Am I A Ghost or Real?
by RedPeck8727
Summary: When Nick walked out on their wedding and joined the army, Gail didn't go back home. She joined the intelligence department. She became somewhat a spy. But what happens when five years later a mission leads her to go back home? When she has to face her family after five years of silence? And what happens when she falls in love with a certain Pathologist?
1. The Kill

**I don't own Rookie Blue, I just really love Gail Peck.**

**1. The Kill**

"Got visual?" my ear piece buzzes with Marcus's voice.

"Yes. I spot Jameson sitting at the far end table with a male." I answer as I head behind the bar, getting ready to take my place as the bar tender for the night.

"Do you have visual on the companion's face?" Marcus asks.

"Negative. his back is turned to me. But he has a slightly tan skin and dark hair." I describe as I respond to a customer getting in job mode.

"Is your weapon ready for orders?" Marcus inquires.

"Always ready." I say as I serve a few beers and then wait for Jameson's companion to turn around.

"Are you positive that's Jameson?" He asks me again.

"The facials fit. Despite the beard being gone. I'm sure it's him." I answer.

"Then I'll check with Stevens." He says.

"Affirmative." I say as I busy myself with the bar while keeping visual on Carl Jameson.

I'm an agent for the CSIS, we're like the CIA. Except different. For the past year, we've been after a rogue CIA agent that was believed to have fled to Canada. The data base tracked him first in Vancouver. After months of roaming the streets of Vancouver trying to find him or any activities related to him, the database finds him in Toronto. And this is where we are. Canada collaborated with USA on finding Carl Jameson. rogue agent, working for the russian mob, selling his country out and giving Canada to the bad guys along the way. He's been leaving a trail of dead people for us to find, unregistered guns popping up, and a few breeches in security for both our countries. Bombs taking place, and agents turning up dead. So the number one order we've had. Find Carl Jameson and Kill Carl Jameson at all costs. They sent me on the mission along side their best CIA agent Marcus Carlin. Which is why I am in the bar, while he is in a van outside. Jameson has no idea who I am, but he knows Marcus and he can't get spotted.

An hour ago we spotted a man who fit the descriptions of Jameson walk into a bar. First thing we do, get me a job on the inside, no names needed to be given. I am anonymous. The perks of the job. First thing I had to do was determine if that was Jameson or not. From the photos I've seen and videos I've watched, I was pretty sure the man sitting across from where I was standing was Carl Jameson. Which meant we were close to finishing this mission, and I would be close to leaving Toronto.

Because here, I had a name. Here, I could get spotted. Here, is where I was originally running from.

Five years ago, I left Toronto under the pretense that I would be getting married. I was twenty years old, and thought I was in love. But marriage never happened. Nick Collins the man who convinced me to elope to Las Vegas with him, left me waiting as he ran off and joined the army. As I was making my way back home, I felt like I couldn't face my family, I didn't want to come back. I just wanted to run away, where no one had high expectations of me, where no one wanted something of me. I just wanted to go somewhere where I could be anything other than a Peck. Which is how I found myself in Ottawa.

It was apparently inevitable that I would join the police force. My parents were both cops, superintendent mom, inspector dad, and I believe my brother has made detective. I just couldn't face their Peckspectations. I was trained all my life to be a cop.

I was trained to know how to fight, to pick a lock, to shoot a gun, to think like a cop, to follow trails, expect criminal movements, etc. So it was inevitable that I'd join the force but meeting Nick and thinking I was in love, made it all halt, and made me think I had a different future, guess I was wrong.

I didn't want to go back home and hear my mother's "I told you so"s. I didn't want to be another cop and try to live to her expectations. I just wanted to find a way to forget my heart break and still do what I was good at. Which is how I found myself in Ottawa applying for the CSIS. In there I wouldn't be treated as a Peck. I'd be rated according to effort. And with them, I could just discard my name and use another, and no one would have to know what my real name is, or where I'm really from. sounded like a good deal to me. All I wanted at the time was to disappear.

And disappear I did. Except for the occasional "Hey, I'm good. I'm alive." Voice messages I left my brother every couple months or so. Always calling at a time when I hoped he wouldn't answer. Using different phones each time and ignoring every reply and call attempt he makes in return. They had no idea where I was. I was gone from their world.

Until now. But at least the bar U was at wasn't The Black Penny. Where all the cops hang out. Where my brother could be roaming. However, I've been in this bar a couple times before. The place is known for the great pizza. Which is why unlucky for us, the place is crowded.

"Sawyer!." Marcus's voice in my earpiece startles me as he calls me by my agent name.

"Yes Carlin?" I ask waiting my orders.

"Follow Jameson's every move. The second he's alone, we shoot." He relays the commands of our mutual boss at this time.

"Copy that." I answer as I serve a male brunette a few shots of tequila.

Just than Jameson's companion gets up and walks towards the bar.

"Can I get two more beers?" He says as he puts a twenty on the bar.

I pour him the glasses and hand them to him. I reach for the twenty and attempt to give him change back.

"Nah, keep it." He says and walks back.

Something about him seems familiar. I'm sure I've met him before. But lucky for me he didn't recognize me. Changing one's hair color doesn't change the way your face looks. So if he knew me well, he'd recognize me. He must've been someone I've seen only a few times. I have a great memory with faces, and I'm sure I'm bound to remember who he is.

I stare at their table for a few moments until it clicks.

"Marcus." I say into my earpiece. "I have a name."

"A name of who?" He asks.

"The guy with Jameson." I explain. "And you're not gonna like it."

"Who's he?" The voice in my ear inquires.

"Last time I saw him he was a cop. His name is Sam Swarek." I say.

"Last time? You know this guy?" He catches on to my slip.

Shit! He didn't know where I was really from and it should've stayed that way.

"So you're from Toronto?" He asks and I decide to ignore his questions and treat it with silence. I refuse to confirm anything about who I am.

"Did he recognize you?" He asks with a tone change. His tone was all business like now.

"No. He didn't. But what's a cop doing with someone like Jameson?" I wonder.

"That's an interesting question." Marcus wonders with me.

Jus then Carl Jameson gets up to answer his phone and walks out of the bar.

"Jameson left the bar to answer a phone call. Do you have a visual?" I inform Marcus.

"Yes, it's him all right. All shaved and clean though." He confirms.

"I'm on my way out. Keep visual. And do not contact. He'd react or run." I remind Marcus as I tap the other bartender in the place indicating I needed a smoke. And I walk out of the bar after Marcus.

I don't spot him anywhere.

"Where'd he go?" I ask into the earpiece.

"Into the ally by the bar. Be careful, and be at the ready. Just say the code word and I'll be right behind you for backup." He answers.

"Copy." I say as I put my hand towards my back where my gun hides and make my way slowly towards the ally.

Just then I hear a gun shot emanating from the same ally I was heading slowly towards. First thing I do then is pull out my gun and run towards there.

No sign of Jameson. What I do see is a dead body lying on the floor at the back end of it. Jameson must have gone back to the bar through the door that leads into it through the ally. The bar apparently had two back doors. I relax my stance with the hand holding the gun relaxed at my side.

"Marcus. We have a problem." I say.

"Charlie. What happened?" He asks.

Before I could answer I feel a body slam into me from the back and pull me towards the wall. I feel the gun being detached from my hands and handcuffs making their way around my wrist.

"Don't move! You're under arrest!" I hear a female voice say.

I get turned around and I am met with a brunette with brown eyes and a hard jaw.

"You don't wanna do this." I say calmly.

"Sure." She scoffs and pulls her phone out as she keeps her hold on me.

I take advantage of that moment to shrug my shoulder towards my ear making sure my earpiece falls. Must not blow my cover if I get taken in.

Just as I was planning to escape her hold and apologize for having to escape. Sam Swarek appears next to her. I was sure if I fight them both off, they'd have my face posted everywhere as a suspect in a murder and only focus on me. I guess the only solution is to keep calm and wait for my partner to get me out of this mess.

"What the hell happened?" He asks.

"I was just about to make my way into the bar when I hear a gun shot. I run here and I see this woman standing in the ally with a gun." She explains pointing at me. "I didn't have my gun so I had to tackle her from behind in order to disarm her and cuff her."

Just then I hear the sound of sirens and I pray to God that when I get taken in, there will be no one at the devision who would recognize me.

The brunet who tackled me leads me into a squad car after they converse with a few cops who start to appear.

I see an officer I recognize. Officer Shaw I guess. I just hope none of them remember me. But most of all, I hope that if I get taken in, I wouldn't run into Steven Peck, my brother.

"Trust me. I'm not your killer. And it's not in your best interest to arrest me." I try to reason with her again. I was pretty sure Marcus was watching everything and probably already calling head quarters to explain the situation and to see how to get me out of this as soon as possible.

"That's what they all say." She scoffs and puts me in the back of the squad. As officer Shaw high fives her.

"Good work McNally."

As the squad car door closes, I twist the twisting part of my ring to the left, turning the trace on.


	2. Anonymous

**2. Anonymous**

"You were found with a gun at the scene of a crime, only a few seconds after the gun shots were fired. And you expect us to believe it wasn't you?" Swarek Asks me incredulously .

I was booked in, and dragged into the interrogation room at 15 devision where apparently a now Detective Swarek and Officer McNally sat facing me. I was sure my finger prints wouldn't match anyone in their database. And I was determined to not give them any name. They don't need to know who I am. Not even my fake agent name.

"I already told you. I went out for a smoke. Heard a gun shot. Ran to check it out." I say calmly for the sixth time.

"Right. You carry a fire arm with you everywhere?" And the sarcasm starts.

Just then a dark haired, dark skinned detective walks into the interrogation room.

"The weapon is unregistered." The unknown detective says as she places a file in front of Swarek. "Care to explain that?" She points her question at me.

"Guess I forgot." I shrug.

"And what, did you forget your name as well?" Sam scoffs and tries to stare me down.

I just smirk. "You're a detective. Shouldn't you figure it out yourself." I tease.

I could tell Swarek was getting worked up. If I keep up this charade I was putting he's bound to blow up in anger in my face.

"So we'll call you Anonymous for now." McNally finally pipes in. She'd been quiet this whole time till now.

"Or you know, since you won't need to know my name, you can let me go and won't have a reason to call me anything." I shrug again, and point out the fact that I had no business being here once more.

"A bartender with a gun and no name. You must be special." Sam was back to sarcasm. I bet he and I would get along just fine.

"Depends who you ask." I say with a grin that I was sure would annoy him more. Staying quiet could've been a better option, but I was sure that in only a few minutes I'd be out. So what's the harm in annoying them and getting a kick out of it.

"Grin while you can. Once you're in the slammer I'm sure you'd forget what smiling feels like." He shoots back at my attempt to annoy him. I guess he thought I'd lost the grin at his comment but I just simple chuckled instead.

"I guess I won't be forgetting then. Since I'll be out of here in a few minutes." I shoot back at him with an even bigger smile.

He raises his finger at my face and just before he says anything the woman detective that I still have got no name for interrupts him by addressing me.

"You sound pretty confident." She comments.

"I did nothing wrong. So I have no business here." I say.

"If you did nothing wrong then you'd have no problem telling us your name." Officer McNally attempts to get my name yet once more.

"It's an ugly name, not good for sharing." I joke but they don't find it amusing. "Besides, you may never see me again. So what use would you have for it?" I add.

"You're being investigated for murder. I'm sure an ugly name is the least of your concerns. Besides, we will figure it out eventually." The woman detective says as she assesses my reaction and movements with her eyes. I'm sure they're waiting for my smirk to fall off my face at any moment.

If my timing estimate is right. I have less than a minute for their sergeant to walk in and tell them to release me. I guess I can have more fun annoying them in the little time we'll be sharing now.

"No you _think_ you're investigating me for murder. But you're just delaying your investigation process." I say. "Now it was nice meeting you, but I guess I'll be going." I say as I stand up.

"Yeah, nice try. You're not leaving anytime soon." Sam says as the woman detective pushes me back into my chair.

"I'm sure it'll be way sooner than you think." I state as I look towards the investigation room door waiting for the staff sergeant with my smirk still plastered on my face.

And just like that the door indeed does open. And a man in a white shirt, whom I guess is the staff sergeant walks in.

"Let her go. Now." He says as he gestures with his hands indicating he wants us all to leave the room.

"What? Why?" Swarek asks.

"Just do as I say Swarek." The Staff Sergeant uses his authoritative voice. "Could you bring her belongings to my office? I would like a word with her." He says pointing at me.

I just get up and walk towards him as they all get up too.

"All my belongings." I add, meeting the sergeant in the eyes, letting him know I also meant the gun.

"Yes, of course. All of them." He says as we all walk behind him. McNally walks towards the booking room, so I guess she'll be bringing me back my stuff. While the detectives follow me and the sergeant towards his office.

"Detectives. Your presence is not needed during this conversation." Sergeant Best, as I happened to read his name while I walked out, says as he stands by his office door getting ready to close it in the face of his detectives.

The door may be closed now, but I could still see through the glass office that Swarek was still waiting outside chatting to the detective woman whom I still have no name for.

But I let my gaze leave them as I find a seat and get ready to lie in the moment. I'm sure the bureau has fed him a few lies about what I do in order to get me out. I just hope I sound as convincing as I should.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding detective." Sergeant Best starts. Detective? What the hell? "My officers only assumed you were the killer for being there, and I understand that you couldn't blow your cover."

So they told him I was an undercover detective. I gain composure and try answer him confidently. "I did warn Officer McNally. I guess it wasn't a clear warning."

"I understand that your name is to remain secret, even the fake one you're using for the sake of your mission. I apologize for jeopardizing your operation and putting you at harm's risk. I hope it's fixable." He says.

"The sooner I get out, the easier it'd be to fix it." I say to rush things up. I don't have all the details of what they told him. I was surprised they told him I was a detective. There must be a reason for that. I didn't want to say anything wrong and slip up. So I remind him how important it is to leave the station with that comment.

"Yes of course." He nods towards the door where McNally is standing to let her know she can come in.

She hands me my stuff and I opt to put my watch on. I place my ring on and turn off the trace as a way to let them know that their plan worked and I'll be released. I grab my wallet which only has my house key and some money, no ID, no bank cards, and put it in my back pocket. Just as I reach for the gun I can feel McNally's gaze following it as I place it at my back under my shirt.

"Thanks." I say towards an uneasy McNally. I guess if I found someone at a crime scene with a gun, I'd be reluctant to let them go. With said gun above all as well.

When I get no reply from McNally I turn towards Best and give him a nod.

"I apologize again." He says extending his arm for me to shake.

I only answer with a nod and turn to walk out with Best following behind me.

"You can't be serious." Sam was ready with his statement as we walk out of the office.

"Sergeant she has an unregistered gun." The woman detective adds.

"Nash, Swarek, let it go." Best says in a stern voice.

I just give them a smile and continue walking. They still follow me.

Sergeant I'm sure is following me to make sure I leave safely. While the others are following me cause they're wary of me. They probably think I'll be pulling my gun at them.

Just as we round a corner and I see the exit door at the end of the hallway, I meet a face I was hoping I wouldn't run into.

"Gail?" A curious voice I knew very well asks as he approaches.

Shit! Fuck! Don't react! Just keep walking! Don't let him address you! You're not Gail, so he can't be addressing you! You're not Gail anymore.

I had to keep repeating that in order to ignore my brother's face and voice as it comes closer. I had to stay neutral. Poker face on and walk to that exit. Dyeing my hair wasn't gonna make me unrecognizable, but it was the only difference I did. Changing it from blondish brown to bleach blond. There's no way he won't know it's me. But I'll just have to be convincing.

I don't meet his eyes, instead I stare right at the exit and keep walking as if he's talking to someone else, because it couldn't be me. But I get stopped as he steps into my line of view.

"Oh my god! Gail! Where've you been?" He says with an exhale as he wraps his arms around me.

I let him hug me for only a second before I push him away.

"Yeah. No. You don't get to hug me." I try to make my voice sound steady and sure.

"What'd you do to your hair?" He asks as he looks me over in surprise. As if he still doesn't believe I was standing there in front of him. It's then that I see the damage I'd done to him by leaving. It's then that I learn about the hurt I might have caused him. For a second I feel like hugging him and telling him I was sorry and that I'm here and alright. But I know I can't. I had to play this off right and leave. Gail is not here! I am not gail anymore!

"You know her?" Sam asks incredulously from behind me.

"My sister." He still has his surprised tone on as his eyes roam over my face.

I just scoff at his words. "Not likely. Now I was on my way out." I say as I try to push past him towards the exist.

"Gail." Steven reaches for my wrist then to stop me from leaving. I just take a deep breath readying myself for the coming onslaught I'd have to unleash on him.

"Look buddy. I am not your sister. My name is not Gail. I don't appreciate you touching me, or stopping me from reaching my destination. Just go find your sister wherever she is, and get out of my way." I stay sternly, watching his face drop into a mixture of hurt and sadness, and I try to push past him one more time. He doesn't stop me this time. I make it towards the exit door with Best behind me.

Once I'm outside I exhale the breath I'd been holding. When I ran away, my biggest fear was that moment that just happened. My biggest fear was that I'd end up in a situation where I'd have to face my family, and it just happened. I just faced my brother. I have no idea if it went well or extremely bad. It felt like it went extremely bad.

Shit!

It's probably after midnight.

Just then my phone rings and I answer Marcus.

"I'm in the van one block away near the cafe. Hurry. We have a situation." And just like that the line cuts off.

I put my phone in my pocket and turn around to run in the other direction. In the process I bump into someone and I hear a thud as something hits the floor.

"Sorry." We both say at the same time. As I lean down to pick up a folder that has been dropped. A folder that turns out to be a police report.

I look up to give it to who ever dropped it, and I find myself lost as I am met by warm brown eyes behind glasses.

"Thanks." She says as she reaches for it. "I just wasn't looking."

"Neither was I." I answer my eyes still fixed on hers and I feel her lips forming a smile. She was about to say something when my phone chimes again disturbing our moment.

"I gotta go." I say to the tan skinned, dark haired brown eyed girl and leave her standing there as I make my way towards the van. I'm sure I've got her face implanted in my mind now. I just wish I had a name to go with it.


	3. Comeback Kid

**3. Comeback Kid**

"It only takes two minutes to get here. Why did it take you longer?" The second I get inside the van Marcus attacks me with a question.

"Sorry, kinda bumped into someone by accident and ended up helping them pick up their stuff." I give for a poor excuse.

"Oh, okay. Well glad you're out of the slammer." He says with a teasing grin.

"Yeah sure. By the way. What was that?" I ask loudly. "Undercover detective? Are you out of your mind?"

"Not my idea." He shrugs.

"Well I'm sure they figured out who I am by now." Sergeant best must be putting it together by now. Considering I bumped into steve and he was sure of who I am, even though I tried to unfazed him.

"What? How?" I am met with incredulous questioning eyes.

"Later. I thought we had a situation." I distract him from the topic at hand.

"Yeah not here. We should head back to the house." He turns the key in the ignition and drives away.

When we were sent here for the mission, we were given a modest two story house. First floor had a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. Second floor had a bedroom and a bathroom within (Which I had claimed for myself). Also it had an office. The attic was relatively small but not important. The important part was the supposedly not existent basement. The house plan says there is no basement, but there is. The floor opening that leads to it is activated by sound. It is always hidden, and even when it is revealed you can never tell it's a door. In the basement all our computers, all our files, all our surveillance material and all our weapons lie.

Marcus and I have been living in the same house or apartment for the past year. And even though he jokingly makes passes at me, we both understand that our relationship is purely professional. Even though we've become sort of friends.

Marcus and I make our way into the basement in await of a conference with Director Caroline Stevens. We each grab a bottle of water and take our seat in front of our screen.

We've been living in the same house or apartment for the past year. And even though he jokingly makes passes at me, we both understand that our relationship is purely professional. Even though we've become sort of friends.

A minute later The conference begins and we are met with Caroline's face.

"Agent Sawyer," She greets. "I'm glad your out and okay."

"Thank you." I answer. "I'm sorry I complicated things." I somehow felt like I needed to apologize.

"Keep that apology, you're going to take it back soon." She says urgently and then addresses Marcus. "Agent Carlin, have you briefed her in?" She inquires of him.

"Not yet, you told me to wait for you." He says.

"Good." She turns back towards me. "When you were taken in, Marcus called it in and we told him we'll be calling to get you out and that he should wait for you outside. The process to release you took a little longer than expected because we took our time coming up with a reason to get you out."

"Right. Undercover detective." I quip in.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I know it wasn't a good idea to take our time getting you out. Especially since you were taken by 15 devision. And that cover was probably not what you needed. But it was what we needed." She explains.

Her explanation leaves me completely confused. Why did they need to make me an undercover detective, when they could pretty much say anything and have me out.

"When Marcus arrived, he spotted Jameson walking into the precinct. The problem was, that he was wearing a police uniform." Stevens continues explaining and my confusion even intensifies.

"What?" I ask. "But that would be impossible."

"Which is why we gave you that cover story. A detective cover would pass with him. It was the only cover that wouldn't leave him suspicious of your presence there." Her explanation made sense then.

"He could still get suspicious." Marcus chimes in.

"True. Which is why we need you to make it believable." Stevens's words were barely registering with me. How would I make it more believable?

"You need to go in. Be a detective for fifteen. It's the only way to be close to him with no suspicion." Stevens's words register then and I understand what she means even before she continues. "He doesn't know who you are. And you're the only one who would make it believable. After all, you've got family there."

"You want me to go in as myself." I don't ask, I simply say.

"Yes. I need you to be Gail Peck again for a while." And there they were, my orders.

Just like that I am faced with my biggest fear again. Coming back would mean facing everyone. Not just Steve, but also my dad, and the hardest one to face would be my mom. For a second I wish I could turn it down, I wish I could run away, but I can't. Not this time. So I compose myself enough to give a steady answer. There was no place for fear now.

"Might as well. I ran into my brother on the way out. He recognized me. But I denied it." I inform here. "I'm sure he didn't buy it though."

"We'll be sending you the assignment details shortly with all your back story and the supposed mission you were on in Toronto. You'll go into fifteen devision next week as detective Peck. Homicide. Jameson was in cop uniform which means homicide offices would be closer. You'll keep an eye out on him. Try to get as much information as you can. We need to know why and how he managed to be in a police uniform. It's good to have you with us, detective Gail Peck." Caroline Stevens says, and all I manage in reply is a nod before the conference cuts off.

"Shit." I exhale.

"Gail Peck, huh?" Marcus quirks up with raised eyes brows.

"Oh no! no! no! no! I'm Charlie Sawyer to you!" I say with a pointed finger and a serious look. "Gail Peck, may be my real name, but to you it'll be just like any other code name I've used on this mission! Understand?"

"I understand Charlie. But I will need a background story on who you are. Treat it as if it's a cover one." His facial expression turns to understanding. I'm sure he knows what it's like to run from something. It looks like he's run from himself as well. "I don't know what situations we will be facing, and I will need to know some things about you. Can you do that?"

I take a few moments to understand exactly what he's asking of me. He has a point. If I have to pretend to be myself for an undercover job, he is my parter. He has every right to know what the undercover is about. If we get caught by the people I'll be hanging with, he'll need a story to tell. He can't have a cover for himself, if he doesn't know mine.

"Okay. Yes, I guess I have to." I take a deep breath readying myself for what's to come. "My name is Gail Peck. I'm from here, Toronto, Canada. My mother is superintendent Peck and my dad is Inspector Peck. Those were the positions they occupied five years ago, before I left. I'm not sure if any of them got promoted. My brother is detective Peck, and I guess he's at 15 devision. So as you see, I come from a family of cops."

I see him nod in understanding, taking all the information in and urging me to continue.

"When I was eighteen, just fresh out of school, I didn't know what job I wanted, and even though I was raised to become a cop, and I was sure I'd be good at it, I just didn't want to give my mother the satisfaction of leading my life. So I just started waitressing at this restaurant, where I met this charming guy. Nicholas Collins. We started dating, and a couple years later, we went to Vegas, wanting to get married, but that didn't work out well."

"Wait, You were going to marry this guy?" He interrupts. "Is that why you never date? You got heart broken?" He asks.

"No, i don't date cause the job makes it hard, and I don't want to get physical with co-workers." I explain.

"I could swear I saw you check out a few chicks." He muses.

"Whatever." I dismiss his observation. "Anyways, Nick left before we got married. He joined the army, and I didn't go back home. I just joined the CSIS." I continue my tale telling. "I was raised to be a cop, if I wasn't going to be one, might as well pick something else with a firearm." I joke.

"And you haven't seen your family in five years?" He asks.

"I only leave out a few voice messages to Steve, my brother, to let him know I'm alive. Otherwise, a missing person report would be all over Canada." I say with a fake chuckle.

"I think I'll have to be invisible for this mission. You know that right?" I simply give him a nod in answer. "Carl knows who I am, and your cover will be blown. I'll have to move out of here. I'll still be here to work on this with you, and to protect you when needed. But where you're headed is a place full of cops. It's safer than any other place we've been into on missions." He assures me.

"I know. I'm just scared of facing my family." I confess.

"You'll do fine." Just then the screen chimes indicating that my mission file has arrived. "Get ready for your big comeback Sawyer, or should I say, Gail Peck."

Fuck! This won't be easy! And I'm sure it'll be very ugly.


	4. The Ghost Of You

Thank you everyone for the encouraging reviews.

**4. The Ghost of You**

Sweaty palms. Short breath. Angry heart. Fuck! I need to get myself in order. Breathe Sawyer! Breathe!

No, you're a Peck now! You're not Sawyer!

You're a Peck. It won't be hard. Come on!

I'm standing in front of the station. It's time to enter 15s devision and take my cover. It's time to be a Peck again. I've memorized my cover. I know exactly how to play this. I've got my supposed undercover job memorized and ready to be told in case I get asked. Or at least what I was told I could say of it. A secret mission can't be completely revealed after all.

Marcus moved out. He found an apartment only one block away from the house we've been staying in. His lair was a closet. A large hidden closet that lie behind a mirror. He was not to play any part in my undercover. He was to be there to back me up if needed. If Jameson spots him, it will be ugly.

My ring was replaced with another. The new one had a tracking device and also was a communication object, just in case I needed to reach Marcus, or in case I needed them to listen into a conversation. It was a fancy looking black rimmed ring, decided into to twisting parts, it can be twisted from top to the left and from bottom to the right.

I was ready to do this mission and to get Jameson. But I was terrified more than ready.

I was terrified to face my brother in there. I was terrified of being home.

I take a deep breath again. Come on Gail! You can do this! You're Gail Peck! This isn't a part you'll have to play. This isn't a code name. You're going to be yourself. It's not hard! Just go in there, and be yourself.

No. That's the hard part! I haven't been Gail Peck in years. I ran away from Gail Peck. No one liked Gail peck enough to be there. And I'm sure they will like her less for being away.

Fuck! How am I going to face Steve?

The beep of my phone startles me. I pick up.

"What?" I say irritably to Marcus. I'm sure he's lurking somewhere watching my every move.

"Stop fidgeting. You can do this. Just go in!" He says reassuringly and hangs up.

Okay. Go in! Come on! I tell myself and walk inside.

Parade must have happened a few hours ago. I asked to be let in after parade and after everyone had taken their assignments for the day. I can study my surroundings better than before I have to face everyone in there.

Once I'm inside the station, I am met with a tall cute officer. Diaz, the tag reads.

"Officer." I nod and show him my badge.

"Detective." He nods back with a confused look and opens the door for me to walk in. The confused look must be the fact that he's never seen me. He must think I'm from another devision.

Sergeant Frank Best was informed four days ago that the undercover detective they booked a week ago was Gail Peck, and that she requested a transfer to his devision. They sent him a fake file on me. A file that had outstanding reviews and jobs that I'm sure are either made up or credited to someone else originally. My fake impressive file makes it impossible for him to deny me the transfer. They asked him to keep it to himself that Detective Peck would be joining 15. My mission wasn't over yet, and no one needs to know that Gail Peck was in Toronto until then.

I was detective Gail Peck. Graduated top of her class at the academy. Made detective in less than two years. I'm sure any sergeant would accept any request if it meant having someone with this many achievements at his devision.

Yesterday they called him and notified him of my arrival the next morning, to check everything out, before I start the day after.

So as I walk into the precinct and I make my way towards his office. As I walk towards it, I see Officer McNally at a desk writing in a file, and she simply drops her pen and looks at me surprised. I simply nod at her with a grin and make my way into sergeant Best's office.

"Detective Peck." Best Greets as he stands up to shake my hand.

"Sergeant Best." I greet back and he gestures for me to sit down.

"I was glad to hear you decide to join our devision." He says with a smile. "I hope your mission wasn't compromised and all went well."

"All went great." I smile.

"Glad to hear." He stands up then. "If you follow me, we've got a desk ready for you in the Homicide section, you can settle in before you start tomorrow. Let me show you." He opens the door for me and waits for me to step out.

As I follow him I take a look around the station, trying to see if I could spot Jameson anywhere. Or maybe even a tall brown eyed girl with black rimmed glasses.

I do spot one of the two. I spot Jameson.

He passes by us, making his way towards the officers desks. "Sergeant" He says as he asses me over.

Best simply nods at him and continue leading me away.

His tag says James. Officer James. I couldn't look at him long or even acknowledge him. I have to play this smart.

As we make it to the detectives offices, Detective Nash, was sitting by her desk busy on the computer.

"Nash." Best calls out for her.

She looks up and I can see the apparent surprise she has on her face as she sees me.

"This is detective Peck. Just transferred from Vancouver." He introduces.

"Gail." She says shocked.

"Yeah, Gail Peck." I smile as if to say: Yes, Steven was right.

I hear Best's phone ring indicating a text and he checks it out. I can immediately sense the change in his composure.

"She will be working with us. Can you help her settle in? I have to deal with something. See you at parade tomorrow morning, detective Peck." He says and rushes out.

I simply walk past her towards an empty desk.

"So I'm guessing this is mine?" I inquire.

"I suppose." She says. "You're a detective?"

"That's what the big man introduced me as, right?" I smirk at her.

"You're Steve's sister?" She says more than asks.

"I guess I am." I answer as I take a seat and twirl in my chair.

"I don't understand. We brought you in for murder, and now you're sitting here as one of us?" I can understand her shock.

"Yeah, I was undercover. What I told you was true. Out for a smoke, heard a shot, went to check it out." I explain. "Couldn't tell you I was undercover. It could jeopardize everything." I say as I pull out my phone and pretend to be texting. I had to act like this was normal. I had to act like I wasn't nervous and terrified.

"You had no cigarettes on you." She states remembering my belongings.

"I only had one, which I threw away before rushing towards the gun shot sound." I explain. She's observant. I couldn't come up with a better lie though at the time. I asked for a break from the other bartender to go smoke. I had to keep up with the pretenses.

"Steve said you left. He said you left one day and didn't come back. He looked for you, you know. But you were nowhere to be found." Nash tells me. "When you dismissed him last week, he was really hurt. He thought he saw a ghost."

Damn it Gail! Don't cry! No tears! Hold it together!

"Yeah, I guess I have a lot of apologizing to do." My voice did manage to shake a little. "Are you guys like a thing? He must really trust you to tell you about me like that." I observe.

"Damn! You are a good detective!" She chuckles.

I get a text from Marcus and it interrupts our discussion.

_Anything yet?_

I send him a brief text back. _He's here. Goes by officer James. Look him up._

I immediately delete the exchange after the sending's done.

"I'm guessing Steve doesn't know you're here." She deadpans.

"No. Not yet." I confirm.

Before she could reply, Sam walks in. "Nash, you got anything?" He asks and then he stops in his tracks.

"You!" He points at me.

"Detective Swarek." I nod in greeting.

"What is she doing here?" He asks Nash.

"Sam, meet 15s newest detective Peck." She introduces.

"Ha. I knew there was a reason you were let out like that." He shakes his head in amusement.

"Undercover mission, couldn't jeopardize it." I muse with him.

"Thought we may not see you again?" He shoots at me, remembering my remark when I refused to tell him my name.

"Yeah, well, I was feeling home sick." I say with a grin.

"You're good at getting under people's skin aren't you?" He reminds me that I was very annoying when we met.

"So I've been told. Makes the job easier at times." I joke.

"I bet."

"Did you catch who _really_ did it?" I ask him about the murder. I was sure Jameson did it, but if he's pretending to be an officer, then either he set someone else up, or they have no answer yet.

"Yeah. The victim was a leader of a drug gang apparently. He was killed by one of his followers, must have escaped through one of the doors in the ally and locked them right after his kill. The guy got killed though as we were taking him in. Sniper. No idea how or who. We're investigating the gang." He informs me.

What does that have to do with Jameson? And why was a drug dealer killed by him?

During our exchange detective Nash was texting on her phone.

I have a feeling she's texting my brother.

"How long till he's here?" I startle her with my question.

"What?"

"My brother. I'm guessing you're texting him, telling him I'm here." I say to her.

"She's good." Sam points at me with a smile. "Welcome to 15 detective Peck." He then walks towards detective Nash's desk. "Traci, what've you got?" He reminds her of why he's here in the first place.

"Right, here." She hands him a file. "According to our witness, our guy's brother threatened him a few days ago. Here's everything you need on him."

He nods and walks out, I'm guessing to go catch the bad guy.

"Gail." Here it is. The voice I was dreading and yet waiting to hear. I look up to be met with Steve's face. All shocked and worried and yet hopeful.

"Steve." I acknowledge him as I stand up.

"Five years!" He storms in and starts yelling at me. "You leave for _five damn years, _you deny who you are when I see you, and now all you have to say is 'Steve'."

"That is your name, isn't it?" That probably wasn't the right reply but I always had a habit to taunt him when I could.

"So not funny. I see you're still a jerk." He says and then all of a sudden, he strides towards me and pulls me into a hug. "You're really here." He breathes.

"Hey big brother." I answer.I don't do hugs, never have, but I couldn't deny him that hug. He needed it. So I kind of awkwardly lift my hands up to hug back.

He holds me for a few seconds and then he lets me go but keeps me at arms length.

"You're here." He whispers, a smile forming on his face.

"Yeah. I'm here." I whisper back.

"Gail, I need some answers here. You had me worried for five years." He says, smile falling, as he pulls a chair and sits facing me.

"I know, and I plan to tell you everything." Or at least what I can. Once this mission is over, if all goes well, I'll be leaving again. I'll disappear again. I'll hurt him again. But what choice have I got? I can't tell him the truth. And for the sake of national security, Jameson had to be taken down, at all costs.

"I will go get some coffee and catch up with Andy." Nash says as she gets up. I'm guessing that was her way of giving us some privacy. "You guys need me to bring you anything?" She asks and I simply shake my head no.

"Yes. Coffee for us both." Steve says as he smiles at me.

"Deal." Traci Nash says as she walks out of the room leaving me and Steven alone.

I tell him then that I left to marry Nick, but that didn't happen. And that after Nick left, I just couldn't come home. Didn't want to come home. His expression turns angry for a slight moment before I am met with understanding eyes.

I tell him that I had to leave, so I went to Vancouver, hoping there the Peck name wouldn't be a big deal. I tell him how I joined the academy and became a cop. I tell him how I became a detective. I tell him some of my missions. And I tell him that I was undercover for the past two months which is why I got to Toronto. I also tell him how my partner, a guns and gangs detective, on the mission had infiltrated into a guns gang that happened to leave dead people behind around different parts of the country. Which is why I was pretending to be his little sister, since I was homicide, I was sent in. We traveled around Canada with them for a month, waiting for a way to put them away. I was only pretending to be a bartender because a couple of them wanted to go to that bar and I told them I needed some fast cash and free alcohol. But in real I was keeping an eye on them.

I tell him lies! And he believes every single one of them.

I tell him what they fed me to say. And he believes that those are my words that _I_ am speaking, not them.

He tells me he's guns and gangs now. Like he always wanted.

I apologize for the way I treated him last week. He understands it was necessary. But I could still see how hurt he was by that.

"I'm glad you're back little Peck. But you could've come to me. I'm always here for you." He says.

"Yeah, well I was sick of the other place. Thought I'd come make your life hell again." I joke at him. "And I know you're here." My tone turns serious. "I just had to figure things out on my own. Grow up a little."

"Gail, I gotta ask. What's with the hair?!" He asks me the same question he asked when he saw me last week.

"What? You don't like it? It's the same except different color." I try to look offended.

"You went from slightly blond to bleach blond. You getting dumber?" He says as he reaches his hand out, in attempt I'm guessing to knock on my head.

"Shut up." I say as I swat his hand away.

He keeps trying to reach for it and I keep swatting his hands away. Which is how Traci finds us as she walks in with coffee.

"Should I be worried?" She muses interrupting our sibling banter.

"Gail, this is my girlfriend Traci." That was Steve's attempt of saying that he was dating Traci.

"She's great Steve." I give him my approval and Traci just shakes her head in amusement. We both reach for the coffee and moan as we take our first sip.

"So I'm guessing you're as obsessed with coffee as Steve is?" Traci asks me.

I simply smile and nod.

This has gone better than I thought. I could feel the fear evaporating and happiness seeping in.

"Oh God!" I say then shocking them. "Does mom know?" I ask with a horrified look.

"Not yet." Steve assures me. "But be prepared, she will find out. And it won't be a pretty reunion."

"Shit." I let the terror take over my face. It was okay to be sacred of Elaine Peck. Steve understood that.

But being here again was good. I missed my brother. Heck, I even missed my parents. I missed my controlling mom.

Even if I had to leave again sometime, being here for now, I could know if everything was really okay for them. I wanted to know the people around Steve. I wanted to make sure he'd be happy. I wanted to meet the people that form his everyday life.

What were they all like?

"Let's go introduce you to everybody." Traci tells me as she points to the door with a smile. "You are after all, one of us now."


	5. Everyday People

**5. Everyday People**

"Hey Andy!" Traci calls out to apparently officer McNally as we make our way into the police lounge.

McNally picks up her cup of coffee from the machine and turns to greet us with a "Hey."

"Hey. We didn't properly meet before, I'm detective Gail Peck." I say extending my hand for her to shake. I was never good with meeting people and socializing. But being undercover most of the time on my job has made me more perceptive to others.

A little less awkward.

If this was me five years ago, I would have simply said hey and waited for someone else to say my name, and I would never have extended a hand to be shaken.

"Andy McNally. Sorry about cuffing you and bringing you in. Traci filled me in on the situation." She says with an apologetic face.

"You didn't know. You were just doing your job, so it's fine." I shrug her apology off. "Mission still worked well." I reassure her.

"She did the same to me you know." A voice from behind me says and then Sam Swarek walks past us towards coffee machine. "She tackled me to the ground and cuffed me even though I told her she didn't want to do this." He says as he fills his cup.

"How was I supposed to know you were an undercover cop on my first day of the job?" She defends.

"I don't know." He says and takes a sip of his coffee as he meets Andy's gaze.

"And I'm guessing you two are a thing as well." I bud in and point at Sam then at Andy.

"Is it that obvious?" Andy asks with a little worry.

"No." I say simply.

"Did you bring him in?" Traci takes our conversation towards a different turn.

"Yeah, guy confessed to it all the second we got there. James just put him in the interrogation room." Just as Sam says that 'Officer James' walks in.

"He's all set." He informs Sam.

"You ready Nash?" Sam asks Traci and she just nods at him and they both walk out.

James walks towards us then greeting Andy.

"On break Andy?" He asks her.

"Just needed a coffee. Desk duty is tiring." She says as she points at her cup.

"Agreed." He then looks at me appraising me. I can tell from his gaze even though graded he was studying my reaction. I made sure to keep it neutral. Make sure he doesn't suspect me. Before he went rogue he was one of the best. Which means I had to be very careful.

"We have a new detective joining us." Andy decided to make introduction. "She came in after Parade so Best didn't get a chance to introduce her to us all. I'm sure he'll do that tomorrow." She rambles. "But anyways, Ian James, Detective Peck. Gail Peck." She says as she points at each of us when a name is mentioned.

"Bartender that got booked last week, right?" He asks squinting his eyes and pointing a little as if he is recalling every action I took while bar tending.

"Under cover mission that got complicated by someone getting killed." I shrug and hope he buys my explanation. "You remember two loud big guys in the back?" I ask and he nods in confirmation. "They were my mission." When I asked if I needed to describe my bad guy while undercover, they told me to say two big guys in the back. They did their check on a few people in the bar, after taking control of the camera footage they have. It took them a couple of days to get it all done, and when they got their answers on some people, they pointed out the most suspicious and the out of towers who came from far away. It would be more believable then. Besides, I'm sure he'll be doing his check up on me soon. I just hope the glitches and the made up story in the data base would be enough to convince him.

"They looked scary." He didn't look scared. His expressions remained the same as he said that.

"Yeah, a little." I shrug. "But I'm sure we've all faced scarier at one point." I add, hoping he'd give me something about his back story.

"Yeah, remember that big muscly guy we had to book two weeks ago? He punched you, and ran off. I had to taser him five times in order to put him down." Andy says remembering and then shuddering.

"Yeah, glad he's away." James says with a small shudder. An act, I'm sure. Jameson would outfight anyone. Even if he had a big built.

"So how long you guys been cops?" I ask in again another attempt to pry for information.

"I've been a cop for like three years and a half." Andy answers. "He's new." She says pointing at James.

"Right." He drags it out as if he was being humoring. "Actually I've been a cop for four years or so. Just transferred here from Ottawa like a couple months ago." He explains.

"Good, you've got experience on the field. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for you two on any coming cases." I say with a smile and walk out of the room.

I can't pry for too much information. It would look obvious. I need to text Marcus what I have so far and figure everything out here very patiently.

Just as I make it out the door I am met with a face I never thought would be here, and I immediately tense.

"Gail?" The police officer in front of me asks in a low voice while his face turns pale as if he's seen a ghost.

"Nick." I spit out bitterly.

"What are you doing here?" He asks with the same surprised low voice.

"I'm here to haunt you." I let sarcasm take over. "Why are you here?"

"I'm a cop." He says pointing at himself as if to say it's obvious.

"Good for you." I say as I saunter past him.

"Wait." I feel his hand catch my wrist and I snap.

I turn around and punch him in the shoulder and he lets me go to reach up and rub where my knuckles made contact. I'm not sure if that was a good move or not, but I couldn't stand being touched by him.

"You do not touch me. Ever." I say sternly through clenched teeth.

"You still punch as hard." He tries to muse and lighten the mood.

"If you try and touch me again, it'll be harder." I threaten.

"Gail." He tries to plead. "Can we talk?"

"Not interested."

"Please." He pleads more. "It's been five years Gail."

"I know exactly how long it's been. But I have nothing to say to you, and I am not interested in what you have to say." I say. "If it's not work related, you don't address me."

"Work related? You're joining the police?" He asks me. He must think I'm just about to join, and become the newest Rookie.

"Something like that." I scoff.

"Collins." Steve says his name just as bitterly as I did.

"Detective Peck." Nick greets surprised at the tone in Steve's voice at first. And then realization hits his face. He realized I must have told Steve what happened between us.

"Are you annoying Detective Peck here?" Steve says with a nod towards me which Nick didn't catch. He looked at Steve confusedly. As if he was speaking a foreign language.

He must think Steve was referring to himself.

"Keep it together Nick." I say as I pat him roughly on the same shoulder I punched. "Keep up with the program. I'm your newest Homicide Detective." I say and pretend to swipe dust off his shoulder before I walk away with Steve right on my trail.

I'm sure after being away this long, he wouldn't want to leave my side. I make it back into the detective's offices and plump down on my seat. I take out my phone and text Marcus what information I've gotten as Steve takes a seat himself.

"Are you okay?" He asks me worried.

"Contrary to belief, I am. I am way over him. Seeing him doesn't hurt me, just irritates me." I confess. "I just can't believe I was about to marry him." I say as I scrunch my face in disbelieve.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either." Steve agrees. "I just want to break his nose for what he did."

"Let it go. I did." I say as I finish texting and put my phone away.

"So where are you staying?" Steve asks all of a sudden. "I have a spare room in my apartment if you want. You can crash there. Or…" He trails off worried about me.

"Don't worry Steve. I've actually already taken care of that. I've got a small two story house all to myself." I smile at him. "You should come check it out soon."

"I will." He nods.

Just then his phone rings. Once he reads the name on the caller I.D he looks at me with worry and I know exactly who's calling. Our mother.

"Hello mom." He answers it.

I could hear her voice, muffled and barely understandable. But it sounded loud and worried.

"Yes, she's really here. I'm sitting with her right now."

She gives him an answer and then He just looks at his phone confused.

"She hung up on me." He explains the sudden silence of his phone. "Bad news is though, she's coming here now." He tells me.

"Shit!" I was meant to say it in my head but it comes out loud.

"Mom." Steve says cutting off my sentence and stands up.

We've been sitting in the detective's offices for the past 30 minutes, just talking. He was filling me in on a few things I've missed.

I was in the middle of asking him about what happened to the last girlfriend he had before I left, when he stands up abruptly.

I was sitting with my back to the door, so I wasn't prepared for my mother's arrival, even though I knew it was coming.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself for the slaughter that was to come. Once I calm my heart rate enough, I turn my chair around and end up being met with my mother's face.

The expressions on her face were a bit unreadable. They kept changing from determined, to anger, to sadness, to hope, to I don't know what.

Her silence and change of expression was adding to my fear.

She stood there appraising me in silence and I had no idea what was going through her head.

I was ready for the yelling, not for the silence and the quiet was making me very wary.

My fear dissipates a little when a lone tear makes it's way down my mother's right cheek and she immediately wipes it away.

_Right, Pecks don't cry._

"Mom." I stand up and take a step closer to her.

"Oh, Gail." She says, almost sobs, and suddenly I am being hugged by my mother. What's with all the hugging? My family was never one for hugging. Why is everyone smothering me with their arms today?

I was too shocked by the hug to do anything. I stood there surprised and mind racing. My mother was hugging me. She wasn't yelling, she wasn't scolding, she was hugging me.

"You're back. You're okay." Her voice shakes and her grip tightens.

I can't help at that moment but to lift my arms and hug her back.

I feel like I'm ten again. That was probably the last time my mother hugged me this tight.

She comes home one night from work and she simply hugs me as I greet her at the door. She hugs me so tight that I felt like I would break in her arms. I remember later on, finding out that she had the worst day. That an eleven year old girl's body was found and that my mother was working her case. That was all they would tell me, but as I grew up, I knew there was much worse to the story. So my mom just hugs me as tight as she can when she sees me. As if me being there, her seeing me, reassured her that I was fine. The case must have gotten to her. Who wouldn't feel bad, sad and angry after finding a dead young person's body?

Somehow this situation felt similar.

Somehow she needed to be reassured that I was here. That everything was okay.

"I'm so sorry mom." I apologize for everything. For going away, for not coming back, for joining the intelligence department, for being silent for five years, and for coming back. And I am already apologizing for having to leave sometime again. I try to say it all in those words.

"You're here." She says again as she lets me go and looks me over.

"I'm here." I nod.

"Glad you're back. Detective Peck." She says in a steadier voice.

Of course was happy I was a detective. If I'd come back same as I left, I'd be getting questioned and yelled at this moment, when her shock of me being here wears off.

"It's good you made detective. I just wish you would've let us help. Or came home once in a while." She squeezes my arm gently as she looks at me with a little hurt.

"I'm so sorry mom. I just didn't know how to face everyone. And I wanted to prove myself. I was just too hurt to come back and wanted it all to go away." I confess.

"Well don't let it happen again. We Pecks don't run." And here it was, the jab I was waiting for.

Just like that she straightens her clothes and her calm, confident face that she's always worn is back.

"Your father will be back to town in two days. I expect you for dinner then." She informs more than she asks. "You too Steven." She points at the silent Steve as she turns around to walk out. "Bring Traci and Leo with you." She adds as she lifts her hand up to wave right before she exits through the door.

I exhale in relief the second she's out of sight. This may have gone well, but that's only because of her shock of seeing me. I'm sure our next meeting will go anything but smoothly.

"Well that was short." Steve breathes with me.

"What just happened?" I say with apparent fear in my voice. My mother letting go and being sweet is scary. After her calm, there is always a storm.

"I have no idea." Steve says, and I'm sure he is now sharing the same thoughts as me.

**I know my chapters aren't very long, I'm still trying to establish the story line.**

**But Holly will be in the next chapter hopefully.**

**And I know her mom's reaction was too calm, I just thought that not seeing her child in five years would make her too emotional, which is why the meeting was short. She had to pull herself together. I'm sure next time they meet it won't be so nice. **


	6. Skin Graph

**6. Skin Graph**

"Why are you fidgeting?" Marcus asks me as he reaches out to steady my very twitchy leg.

He'd come into the house in the early morning, one hour before I was supposed to leave, so we could discuss the mission further. Communication between us from today will have to be very cautious. So we needed to cover some base lines first. Which is why I had missed my morning run.

"There was no yelling. Everyone was understanding. Especially my mother. Which is scary. There were too many feelings for one day." I wine.

"I thought that was a good thing?" He questions confused.

"Not with my mother." One time, when I was sixteen, I went to this rock concert in the city. Some big metal band. In the middle of the standing circle, right next to where I was standing, some idiotic guys start making jabs at each other and one of them gets stabbed. Each guy's group starts throwing punches at each other and some random people got hit in the process. I remember the cops dismantling the fight, and I remember ending up with a black bruise on my face with a busted lip. My mother was so worried when I was first brought home. She made sure to give me whatever I needed that night. Once morning came she scolded me for going to such a gathering, and reminded me that Pecks don't get caught up in bad situations. Weirdly, even through all of her affection last night, I feel like next time I see her, it'll be like that morning. And this time, I have no idea how to arm myself and be ready.

"Hey, you're back. They're happy. Remember that." Marcus says in reassurance.

We've been sitting in the living room drinking coffee for the past few minutes.

"Yeah, back for now. Once I leave again, there will be no forgiveness next time." I scoff.

"Not true. You can always keep contact, you know that. You can always obtain safe contact. You don't have to completely disappear. Your division doesn't ask that of you." He tries to reason with my dreadful mind. "Besides, remember that Jameson needs to be put away, at all costs. I'm sure doing that would outshine your Peck name. Which you've already done on many previous occasions." He praises.

"Which only I know about." I mumble with an eye roll and he only chuckles at my childish behavior.

"You don't have to rush this mission. Just go out there, have the time you need with your family, and get the bad guy." When he says it like that, it sounds easy enough. "We need as many information as we can get before we take him down. Something's going on there that we don't know about. So do your best to figure it out. And find someone to have a little fun with. You need a little love my friend." He jokes.

"Ha! That's all that's missing. Of course! All I need now is one more person to add to my list of people I will break soon." I let the sarcasm drip heavily. "I can't risk someone's life by being with me, and have them put up with all the secrecy and shit."

"I said _fun,_ not a _relationship._" She corrects me.

"I don't do fun." I say.

"Come on! How long has it been since you've been happy?" To that question, I cower with no answer.

"Find yourself a good guy to have fun with, or girl. Whatever you want." He shrugs.

"You're an idiot. I'm on a mission here. A very importent one. Which can not handle screwing up." I chastised him.

"Look, all I'm saying is, you've been sad long enough. When you're mission needs space, find someone to fill your spaced time. Find the meaning of smiling again. Loosen up, learn how to have fun." This was a side of Marcus that I haven't seen yet.

"You're a big old softy aren't you?" I tease him.

"Yes, I am. And so are you. Behind all this charade you put up." He lifts his hands up to indicate all over my face. "And hey, if it's girls you're into now, It's all okay with me." He adds with a knowing smile.

"Jerk!" I fling a pillow at him.

"Oh, come on! I'm not blind!" He exclaims in defense.

"Look, I've never been one to care about someone because of their gender. No one ever chose what skin they were born into. Male and Female relationships are only socially acceptable because their different in form and their ability to reproduce made it sound reasonable. When in fact if you justify liking someone, it's them and not the body you need. It's a state of mind. So technically, if you let go of the codes implanted in your head since infancy, you like both men and women too. We all do." I lecture more than explain as I smuggle point at him.

"Since my codes are still there, and you lost yours, I'll just let you have all the fun with both." He fires back at me.

"Your loss, loser." I say as I finish my coffee.

"You ready to go and face the music?" He asks me as we get our coats and get ready to leave.

"I don't understand anything yet, I'm even starting to get confused on whether that's Jameson or not. His background fits so well. But his composure and attitude somehow gives him away to me." I confess.

"I don't get it either. But remember, he was one of the best. So he knows how to disappear well." He reminds me.

"Not well enough, since we found him." I say.

"Just cause he's one of the best, doesn't mean there can't be better agents out there." He says with a wink my direction and I simply scoff.

"Wouldn't have been easier to have made me an officer? This detective thing won't put me too close to the subject." If I were a constable, I could be partnered up with James, I could have more opportunities to know him. Also, I would do a better job. I could still be considered a rookie then and my mistakes would be justifiable, whereas I cannot mess up as a detective.

"You had to be your own boss. We didn't want you having to follow a specific rules of job. We needed you to be available when needed. And as the boss of Jameson you can get every information easier. Besides, you're a spy. It's better if you lead a team, then have it lead you." He explains my position in the force.

"Okay, I get that. It's just…" I trail off, not wanting to admit that I just didn't want to screw up being a detective.

"You'll do fine. You said it yourself, you were trained to be a cop your whole life. You know what to do. Just trust your instincts and all the training you've had these past few years." he says as he pats my shoulder before we exit the door.

"Now go catch some bad guys, and in the process, find yourself some loving." He says as he saunters away and I climb into my car after I flip him off.

I walk into the station with Marcus's words echoing in my head. _You were trained to be a cop your whole life._ I hang on to those words to keep my confident face on. I arrived at the station a couple of minutes before parade knowing that there will be no family members to hold my hand through this now. Steve would be at his department and I would be here with all these strangers, keeping an eye on one of the most dangerous men, all by myself.

Knowing that he's a bad guy, and knowing that what I do is put people like him away, makes me determined to do my job and not cower in front of all the dangers I'm facing now.

So I walk into Parade just as Sergeant Best takes his position behind his stand. I find a place to sit in the back next to Detective Swarek and Officer Shaw whom I acknowledge with a nod.

Best tells everyone about a robbery that happened early this morning and explains to us all they know about the guy behind it. Detective Nash then starts explaining everything about the incident and who are the suspects.

Before everyone could disperse and I could make it into my office to study the next case that'll be mine and have James work with me on it maybe to get more info,, Best makes introductions.

"Also," he adds before anyone can leave. "I would like to introduce you to our newest homicide detective. She just transferred here from Vancouver. Detective Gail Peck." He says pointing at me and I simply greet back with a small smile and nod as everyone offers their hellos.

"Little Peck. Welcome to 15." Officer Shaw says as he pats my shoulder while he walks off towards the assignment board to see who'd be riding with him today.

I simply make it to my desk and start reading the files left for me there, as everyone goes by their work, and detective Nash takes over the robbery case.

"Peck." I get called while working on the latest file. I look up to see Sam Swarek at the door.

"Come with me. You got your first homicide in Toronto." He says as he waves for me to follow him and then he walks out.

I close the file and pick up my stuff and make sure my gun is in place as I put my jacket on and make my way after him.

"Diaz says some teenagers were hiking in the woods when they came across the body. We just informed Forensics." Sam explains as we get into his car and he drives to the crime scene.

Once we get there forensics are already in the process of restricting the crime scene and taking photos.

"Diaz, James." Sam calls for them as we arrive.

"Detective." Diaz nods.

"What have we got?" Sam asks.

"Well when we arrived the teenagers over there said that they just came across the body. They didn't touch it, just called it in immediately." He explains. "Forensics just arrived a minute or two before you did. They're still waiting for the Pathologist to arrive before they touch the body." As Diaz explains I study the body.

Shot in the stomach, lower left part. Clean shot. The victim must be in his late twenties. I walk towards the body and show my badge for forensics to let me through.

I crouch in front of the body and try not to touch it, simply examine it with my eyes. His skin isn't blueish. I'm sure he hadn't JUST died he must have been here for a while, maybe more than four hours. The skin looks Pinkish. Cherry pink maybe? He didn't die of the gun wound. He was poisoned. Then shot.

I reach out to make sure he's been dead for a while and touch his wrist to see temperature. The skin is cold, no pulse. He's definitely been poisoned. Just as I extract my hand a shape under his sleeve catches my eyes. I lift the sleeve slightly and slowly until the whole tattoo is revealed.

It was a simple three horizontal parallel lines that differ in thickness. I immediately get my phone to take a photo of it. The tattoo looked familiar so I text it to Marcus immediately with a: _look familiar?_

"You know you're messing with evidence, right?" A serious female voice says from behind me.

I turn around and look up to find myself looking at a tall brunette with dark hair put in a bun and brown eyes hidden glasses.

The girl from outside the station last week. So she's not a cop.

I stand up and brush off the dirt off my pants and meet her eyes with a bit of a smirk and walk away from the body towards where she's standing.

"Let me guess. Glasses, Lunchbox, Nerd vibes. You must be the Forensics Pathologist." I guess in a matter of fact voice.

"And you're disrupting my evidence." She says not wavering.

"Dr. Stewart." Swarek greets the pathologist as he stands closer to us.

"Detective." She nods.

"Looks like you got a gun shot victim on your hands." He points out and she nods.

"Keep this detective away, she doesn't respect evidence." She points at me playfully and yet seriously before she saunters towards the body.

"Actually he was poisoned." I say with a knowing smile before she gets towards the body and that causes her to turn with a whiplash.

"And you figured this how?" She questions with raised eye brows.

I walk towards the body with Sam on my heels.

"Pink skin, Cherry pink. Yeah I'm guessing he was shot after he died, a few seconds after." I say smugly and Dr. Stewart simply crouches down towards the body to examine it.

"You're right." She says a few minutes later as she turns towards me.

Sam simply nods encouragingly at me. "Good job detective Peck." He says. "Can you tell what poison it is?" He asks the Doctor.

"Well detective, any idea what it could be?" She asks me challengingly.

"Carbon Monoxide, probably." I remark.

"Yeah probably." Dr Stewart nods and goes back to examine the body.

My guess is the guy has been tortured. Which is what led to his death. Inhaling Carbon Monoxide must have been part of his torture.

"Notice anything else Peck?" Sam asks me.

"He has a tattoo on the upper part of his left wrist." I say as I pull out my phone to show him.

"This looks familiar." He says and he picks up his phone and makes a call.

"Callaghan. I think you need to be here for this." He says to the whoever was on the other side and he explains the situation and gives away the address.

As he makes the call I can feel my eyes gravitating towards the good Doctor as she examines the body on the scene and takes photos.

"Any ID?" Sam asks once he's done with his phone call and after he'd talked to James for a a couple of minutes. I'm guessing since they glanced at the teenagers still huddled on the side, Sam was asking if he took the full statements.

"No wallet or anything on him. I'll know more once I get him on the slab. But I'd say he's been dead for about eight or nine hours." She explains as she goes back to examining the body.

"You agree Peck?" Sam asks tauntingly and I simply squint my eyes in a cold glare at him.

I look towards James then to see what he's up to. He looks to be standing on the side watching the body.

His expression is unreadable. It looks to be careless. He doesn't look worried. I avert my gaze before he could catch me staring.

And it lands back on the doctor, who seems to be appraising me too. I simply life my eye brows in question with a half smirk on my face.

She just shakes her head and goes back to examining a body when a blond detective shows up.

"Swarek what have you got?" He asks as he saunters into the crime scene and makes his way towards the victim.

"Callaghan." Sam greets. As Sam explains the situation I get a text from Marcus. _Yes. It does. It's a secret Tattoo for a secret organization. Where'd you see it?_

_Dead body. _I text back and put my phone away

"You're right, it's same as the one the other victim had." Callaghan says and piques my interest.

"What other victim?" I ask and Callaghan looks at me questionably.

"Luke Callaghan, meet detective Gail Peck. Just transferred to 15." Luke nods in greeting towards me and I nod back.

He then goes into his explanation.

"Three weeks ago, we found a body in an ally by 52 devision. The guy was shot and had the same tattoo as this, same place. It turns out during the autopsy that cause of death was poisoning not gun shot. Just like your victim. We sent the tattoo to a few detectives to help us figure it out, otherwise we wanted to keep it on the down low. We don't want cops and rookies trying to prove themselves and get into trouble." He explains as he points towards the victim.

"I'm gonna need to take the body to the lab for further examination and possible ID identification." Dr. Stewart says as she reaches where we're standing.

Swarek nods at her and then proclaims. "I need someone to go to the morgue and someone to stick around here."

"I'll go to the morgue." James says lifting his hand.

"Alright I'll stick around." Diaz says.

But the look in James's eyes as he looks at the body at that moment tells me that I shouldn't let him go to the morgue. If he is involved in this, I need to keep him away. And my instincts tell me he is involved. And if he is involved, then the answers lie with the body.

"Actually, this looks like a delicate case. I think I'll go." I volunteer myself.

"Are you sure?" Sam asks me.

"It seems to be a case you two are more familiar with." I say pouting at them trying to come up with an excuse as to why I need to go. "I'll do more help at the morgue."

"Alright then." Sam says and then looks towards James. "James you stay, Detective Peck will go."

"Alright." James agrees immediately which makes me again doubt my instincts and think I misread the look in his eyes previously.

"So you promise you won't mess with evidence?" Dr Stewart asks with a smirk.

"Awww, are you scared I'll mess with your work?" I tease. "I don't promise things I can't keep. Unfortunately for you, you're stuck with me Lunchbox." I say and turn around to head away from the scene.

"Lunchbox?" She asks as she matches my stride.

"You're the only one here with one. Had to distinguish you somehow." I answer in explanation to the name.

"I have a name you know." She says.

"Now where's the fun in that?" I tease and keep walking away from the scene.


	7. Operate

**7. Operate**

"Enjoying yourself detective?" asks me when she catches me sitting on the desk in the morgue and flipping through some science magazine or something, while she has her hands busy working on the dead body.

"I would really enjoy my time more, if you had something else to read." I say.

"I thought you knew your science stuff. Didn't think it'd bore you." She shoots at me, considering my smart ass move at the crime scene.

"Well, I'm not a complete _nerd."_ I get off the desk and put the magazine down. "But you seem to be a big one, with all the medical magazines and stuff. Must be so annoying having to read those stuff." I say just to annoy her.

"Actually I write that stuff." She replies as if writing these articles was just another normal thing to do, and then she turns her attention back to the body. I may not understand most of what I just read a while ago, but I know it's very impressive. She seemed to turn away right after she told me that piece of information which means she missed the impressed look I gave her.

"Like I said. _NERD_." I say after I compose myself and roll my eyes at her. I make my way towards the table to inspect what she's doing.

"So you got anything there?" I ask once I'm close enough to see what she's doing.

"You got any ideas?" She teases, again reminding me of my smarts moves at the crime scene.

"I'm not that up on my medical jurisprudence." I confess and refocus my attention to the dead guy. I shouldn't have said much when we were at the crime scene. Being a spy meant I had to learn certain things. And knowing a cause of death on sight if possible was important. I couldn't help myself though. I felt the need to impress and yet annoy this doctor at the same time. Also being here, means I had a lot to prove. I am a Peck here. I had to impress not only my family but everyone else. They had to see me and not my last name. So I noted my realization, and even behind all the teasing and the annoyance the doctor shows, the look on her face when she realized I'd been right by saying the guy was poisoned, was an impressed look.

"He's been dead for about nine hours. Cause of death is Carbon Monoxide, it was inhaled slowly. He must have been inhaling it for hours before it killed him. I'm guessing he was starved as well." The doctor explains to me while she works on the bullet wound. So he was tortured. The Pathologist then pulls out the bullet and bags it. "The gun shot wound is clean. Whoever killed him isn't sloppy. It seems he was shot after death, which is why the bleeding wasn't as severe." She finishes explaining what she's got so far and then walks towards the computers to check how far ahead the DNA process was.

I walk around the table and stare at the tattoo. I can't remember where I've seen it before but I'm sure I have. Marcus said it was a secret organization. I will need to talk to him soon.

I feel eyes watching me. I look up to find the doctor staring at me. I simply raise my eyebrows in challenge.

"Fascinating tattoo?" She questions after she clears her throat.

"Just a little." I say and go back to looking at the tattoo.

I had to admit that the pathologist fascinated me. She was witty, smart, and beautiful. But I couldn't let myself get lost in anybody. Not in this line of work. And not now.

My phone ringing startles me. I was lost in my thoughts of_ why_ I couldn't look at the doctor, and the simple tune of my phone made me jump. I look at the caller ID and it reads: The American. Which means it was Marcus. I debate whether or not I should answer it in the presence of Dr Stewart. Should I take this outside? She can simply think it was someone from the station. Or should I just go outside and answer?

"You gonna get that?" The Pathologist asks.

"Um, yeah." I fumble with the phone before I tap the answer button.

"What's up?" I say casually.

"Where are you?" Marcus asks and I just glance up at the doctor.

"At the morgue."

"Any ID yet?"

"Nope." I make my way away from the table and towards the desk.

"We need to talk. Urgently." He says and emphasizes on the urgent.

"Yeah I am aware of that." I say. "But I can't now. I'm working."

"Sawyer, this is serious." He tries to reason with my tone.

"I know it is. We'll talk when I'm done. I'm just waiting for the doctor to give me all I need." I say as I give a meaningless smile towards the doctor as she glances my way.

"Ah you're not alone now then?" He catches on.

"Nope."

"You volunteered to go to the morgue then?"

"Yes."

"Smart girl." He compliments me.

"Sure." I could feel the doctor's eyes glancing towards me every once in a while.

"When you're done text me, we'll meet up. You need to fill me in on what you know." He reminds me that he can't know what I know.

"Yeah, so do you." I remind him as well.

"Right. Now tell me, is the pathologist hot?" He jokes.

"You're an idiot." I say seriously.

"What? it's a simple question." He defends.

"Mhhmm." I say as I watch the doctor take off her gloves and walk towards the computer.

"He totally is." He says cheerily.

"Not really." I deny.

"Or she is?" He asks then.

"I'm hanging up now." I say as a way to shut him up.

"Come on. Say yes." His voice was getting louder. Loud enough to be heard by the other companion I had the room. When I look up I find her looking at me with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Bye now." I say in a fake cheery voice before I hang up and put the phone back in my pocket.

Doctor Stewart then picks up some papers from the printer and walks towards me.

"Boyfriend?" She asks trying to fish for information on who could be on the other end.

"God no!" I say with a little shudder. During the past year Marcus became like a brother. He always reminded me of Steve. "I'm not really up for the whole boyfriend thing right now." I continue. I don't know why I felt the need to give that information, but if I needed to know if she had somebody, there was my opening and I intended to take it.

"How about you? Boyfriend?" I say with fake cheer and a smile.

"I don't do the whole boyfriend thing." She says.

"Ah, you're one of those girls who play the field then." I say to annoy her. She looked to sweet to be that kind of person.

"Are you?" She asks.

"No." I say with a smile. "Now you're turn." Just to let her know she hasn't confirmed or denied my guess yet.

"No, I'm not." She says returning my smile.

"Then you'll need a better choice of words." I say and she chuckles at my remark.

"Well then. What I meant was, I'm a lesbian." She confesses as she looks me in the eye waiting for a reaction.

"Oh, I just hate people." I say as if it was obvious and then reach out to take the paper from her hands.

"And what does this mean then?" I ask pointing at the codes and lines on the paper.

"It means no match." She exhales.

"Damn it." I was hoping I'd get a name on the victim. I can then understand why there were two victims dead within the same month, the same way and with the same tattoo. And I wanted to see if Jameson was involved.

"I am waiting for the blood test to finish to see if there were any substance in his system. And I will send the bullet for scan and study." She goes back towards the body and picks up gloves to get to work again.

My phone chimes with a text from Marcus.

_On a scale from 1 to 10, how hot? _

_Idiot. Shut up. _I text back.

_Come on! _He pleads.

I look up at the Doctor and I couldn't help but notice how perfect every aspect of her was.

_Fine! 10._ I give in and tell him.

_Him or Her? _

_Go AWAY. _I put my phone away in hopes he would, but it doesn't. It chimes with another text.

As I look at the phone I notice it's not from Marcus, it from Sam. I gave him my number when we were in the car on our way to the scene.

_Anything yet? _The text reads.

_No ID on the DNA._ I reply.

_Well I'm outside. Here to pick you up. I think we could use your help on this case._

_I'm on my way. _And with that text sent, I pick up my jacket from the chair I draped it over when we got here.

"Well Lunchbox, I guess I'll see you around. Send those results to the station when done." I say to the doctor as I put my jacket on.

"I have a name you know." She gives me the same reply she gave the first time I called her lunchbox.

"Well I didn't catch your first name, _Dr Stewart_." I say remembering I never caught her first name.

"I didn't get yours either." She reminds me.

"Well, I'm Gail Peck." I introduce with a smile.

"Holly Stewart." She says returning my smile.

"Okay then, see you later Lunchbox." I say as I walk out, not giving her a chance to answer back, but I do hear a chuckle.


	8. The Twist

Thank you for the great reviews. They mean a lot and they are very encouraging.  
Again, I don't own Rookie Blue. I just really really love Gail Peck.

* * *

**8. The Twist**

"Peck." Callaghan greets as I enter his office. "Anything?" He asks as he walks out carrying a few folders.

"No. No match on the fingerprints or the DNA." I tell him as I walk behind him.

"Damn it. Just like the other victim." He swears.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need a look on that file." I point out at him. If he needs help I'll need to know what we're dealing with. I already have a feeling that I won't be sharing much with them on this case. If they have no match on the finger prints or the DNA, then someone must have wiped them from the system.

"Yes I already placed a copy at your desk."

Nash and Swarek seem to already have made their way into Parade room as we enter. Callaghan closes the door and the blinds.

"We can't let the officers know much about this. We can't send them out there blind. We have to know what we're dealing with first." He says as he makes his way towards the board and starts putting pictures up.

"How will we identify them?" Nash asks. "We barely have anything on this."

"Well what we know is that both victims seem to be in their twenties. Last victim was mid twenties, while this one is late twenties. They both died from poison, carbon dioxide, slow death. And they both have the same tattoo. Same place." We have things in common to work on.

"Well our new victim was starved." I might as well tell them. It'll be in the pathologists report anyways.

"Tortured? Captive?" Swarek thinks out loud.

"Should've gotten Dr. Stewart on the last victim." Callaghan says. "We don't know if the last victim was starved as well." I'm guessing since it was in another farther devision some other pathologist got the case. Detective Callaghan seems to be working with any devision that needs him. He's no longer attached to one devision.

"So the answer lies in the tattoo now." Traci Nash guesses.

"Yes. The only thing we have going now. We need to know what it means." Callaghan points at the picture of the tattoo he's got hanging.

"Hey." The door bursts open and in walks Steve. Steve takes a seat right next to me and smiles at me in greeting. I simply return the smile.

"No ID then?" He asks Callaghan.

"None." Callaghan answers exasperated.

Secret Organization. That's what Marcus said about the tattoo. What kind of organization could it be. I needed to know before I share anything. I needed to know what I was allowed to share and what I wasn't. Both victims don't exist in the database. The only people who don't exist in the database are spies. Who could possibly want to wipe their victims clean? Why are we not supposed to find them? Unless they were already subject to not being found.

Of course.

What if they were spies? What if they were like me?

Our fingerprints and DNA were wiped from the systems the second we were deemed fit for field duty.

Shit! I needed information from Marcus _now!_ This can't wait till after shift.

"Excuse me." I say as I stand up and I startle everyone in the room.

"Gail?" Nash asks me.

"Gail? What's wrong?" Steve asks me concerned.

"I need to make a phone call." I explain as I start to walk towards the door.

"Gail. Wait, what?" Steve calls after me.

"Do you guys want to know what the tattoo is or not?" I shoot at them as I walk out and find myself an empty interrogation room.

I wipe my phone out and call Marcus.

"Hey." He answers on the second ring.

"Where are you?" I ask mimicking his tone when he asked me previously.

"What do you need?" He asks dodging telling me where he is. I'm guessing he's at his apartment then.

"I need to know what that tattoo means." I say urgently.

"Okay. Can't it wait?" He asks.

"No."

"Something happened?"

"Yes. They're investigating everything and it seems the answers lie in the tattoo." I explain.

"Wait, investigating what? You do know I still don't know what happened right?" He reminds me.

"Right. Look we were called into a crime scene. Victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning, he was late twenties and had that tattoo on his left wrist. The thing is, there's another guy found dead a few weeks ago at another devision who died the same way and has the same tattoo at the same place." I tell him as I take a deep breath to tell him what's to come. "To top it all off, both victims have no ID. No fingerprint match, no DNA match, nothing. You know what that means right?"

I give him a few seconds till it kicks in. "They're like us?"

"That's my guess." I say.

"But they can't have that tattoo. They can't be with them if they're like us." He reasons.

"Who's them Marcus?" I push for answers.

"The tattoo is a simple three lines where the top one is thickest and bottom one is thiner. It's simple and supposedly meaningless. It's a common thing that no one would expect as a tattoo, which is why they used it." He explains. "They, being high members from every mob come together to bring down the big powerful countries, including their own. They're secret organizations because we have no idea who's with them and who's not. Even they don't know each other. The only way they can tell each other is with that tattoo. It took the government a while to know about them, and a long time to know what identifies them. The tattoo doesn't necessarily have to be on their wrist. It could be anywhere they choose."

"And why don't I know about this?" I ask.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask your department. But Charlie, if your guess is right, then we have big big problems." And he's right. If they are spies who joined the bad side, then they can't be the only ones, but why kill them?

"Can you call Stevens? Put me on speaker? I need to speak to her now." I ask.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Okay hang on." And then I hear the screen ding as he makes the call.

"Agent Carlin," I hear Caroline Stevens's voice then.

"I've got Sawyer on speaker. We have a situation." Marcus says.

"A victim with the three lined tattoo?" She asks.

"Yes, but there's another." Marcus then explains the situation.

"Have any spies gone missing lately? Because the only explanation I can come up with is that they're like us." I ask.

"I'm guessing they're our undercover agents." Stevens confirms.

"What?" Ours? undercover? They were sent in?"

"We sent in a few agents into the midst of the organization. We needed to infiltrate it and know who's in it and what they're up to. We couldn't kill anyone or do anything until we knew exactly who was involved and which countries. Do you have any photos of the victims so we can know if they are ours and which of ours?" She asks after she explains.

"Yes, I'll send them to you when I'm back to my desk." I answer.

"If they are ours, they know we're onto them now then." She says.

"One more thing. What am I allowed to share with the others here?" I ask.

"Nothing, We don't need Jameson knowing anything. He could suspect you." She answers.

"Jameson knows nothing about this. The detectives don't want to send the offices in blind. So they want to figure out what's going on before anything." I explain.

"He could still find out. So we tell them nothing. We can work on this from here." She says.

"You're right. I can't explain anything without revealing who I am." This is an intelligence department issue. We can't drag the cops into this.

"If these are indeed our men I will inform you. Send me copies of both case files." She tells me.

"Will do." I answer and I hear the screen beep off.

"Okay well I better get back into the parade room." I tell Marcus.

"Hold on. One question." He quickly says before I hang up.

"What?" I am already dreading his question.

"Pathologist. It was a _she _wasn't it?" He asks cheekily.

"Jerk." I answer as I hang up and walk out towards the detective's office. I find the files on my desk and I snap pictures of the victims and send them to Caroline Stevens, then I grab the files and make my way back to the parade room.

Just as I open the door to the room my phone rings. I can tell all the detective's eyes were fixated on me and they weren't happy. I simply shrug and walk back out. I answer just as soon as I close the door.

"Hello." I answer as I make my way towards the empty room again.

"Sawyer you were right. They're our agents." Stevens informs me.

"This is bad. Especially since it landed in the hands of the police." I tell her as I pace the room thinking of what it could all mean.

"We have more agents in there. We need to warn them. They seem to know about our plans. We can't pull the plug on this though." She sighs. "If we don't catch these guys they'll bring both American and Canada down along with other countries."

"You do know the detectives won't stop on this case now? Two dead bodies, identical kills, it screams serial killer. They can't keep this under rapture for long." I warn her.

"We're aware. Which is why we're going to take over their investigation. We're sending some people there now. They will have no further ties to this." She explains to me. I have a feeling that even if they pull out every evidence away from these detectives, they will still look into the case. And what happens if we find another body?

"What happens if more bodies show up?" I ask her. "Won't be easy to cover it then."

"Let's hope they don't. If more show up, we'll deal with it then. Your priority right now is Jameson."

"I know. But so far nothing about the guy seems off. He's playing his part well." I still don't get what being a cop helps him with. "I need to know what I am going to say now. How to cover this up? The only way I could escape that meeting room was by saying I could get the meaning of the tattoo."

"Well tell them what we know about it, it means nothing." She then sighs. "You're good at keeping things at bay, I trust your judgement." She adds. "As for now do whatever you can to get information on Jameson." And then the line goes dead.

Okay then.

I go back to the parade room.

"Well?" Callaghan asks irritated at my sudden actions of leaving the room.

"Well, nothing. The tattoo means nothing." I answer him as I make my way towards my seat.

"All this time you were out and you got nothing? Your dedication shows." He jibes at me.

"Hey easy man." Steve tries to defend me.

"She leaves, comes back only to leave again, and she has nothing." Callaghan wasn't very pleased right now, but I wasn't slightly worried. "Did your calls even have anything to do with the tattoo?" He asks me then.

"Gail, did you get anything else on this?" Steve tries to approach me in a different manner than Callaghan. He knows me. If I was to answer Luke's jibe, I would be mean and a total bitch. Can't do that on my first day, so he thinks if I was to be a bitch, he'd rather be on the receiving end.

"Like I said. The tattoo means nothing. It's meaningless. Which means that they have it to be able to tell each other." I answer Steve in a bit of an irritated voice.

"Care to elaborate?" Sam asks then.

"Did you know that in Victorian England, the color green was associated with homosexuality? They used to wear green so they can tell each other." I simply give an example more than an answer and wait for it to sink in with them.

"Last I checked, they use the rainbow flag now, not a three line tattoo." Callaghan says not liking my way of explaining things. I'm guessing he's more of a straight forward answers kind of guy.

"You think the tattoos are simply made so they can identify each other?" Steve asks me.

"Well since it means nothing, and no one's seen it or heard of it till these bodies showed up. I'm guessing yes." I explain and I see Steve contemplating what I was saying.

"You have a point. Some gangs use tattoos as initiations," Steve agrees.

"Can we get the database on every person we ever booked in here with a tattoo?" Callaghan then asks. "Maybe we'll find a match."

"That will be a long list. But worth a shot." Sam chimes in hopefully.

"I don't know. This feels like it's bigger than us." I try to tell him that we can't get too caught up in this case with that statement. Looking into it will be a waste of time and will cause more frustration once it's taken away.

"Meaning?" I'm sure I'm Callaghan's least favorite person at the moment. With all my vague answers and careless behavior.

"Look, back in Vancouver, a couple of times when we're working on a big case, some higher ranks came in to take over it, and they told us to forget about this case, like it never happened." I elaborate.

"You think this is one of those cases? Why?" I almost forgot Traci was in the room till she asked me that question.

"Usually they take over cases that are filled with secrets. This is definitely a secretive case." I point at the board. "Unless they are still unaware of the similarities between the two bodies, and that we have nothing. No match on anything." I add.

"Considering we can't keep anything from the staff sergeant, I'm sure the higher ups must know by now." Luke says as he starts pacing.

"Let's hope I'm wrong and we keep on this case then." I say and everyone nods in agreement.

Steve then gets up and makes a call, asking for files of people booked with tattoos that are none gang related. He then walks out to get them and I walk towards the lounge room to get some coffee for all of us.

I could tell all the cops in the room were looking towards the parade room, wondering about what they were being put in the dark about. When I make my out of the lounge room and towards the parade room I feel eyes on me, following me.

I look up and try to look at the room casually hoping to meet my watcher's eyes. I scan the room until I am met with Jameson's eyes. Or officer James's. I try to read his expression, trying to tell what emotions he seems to be having as he watches me. His gaze was expressionless. Perfect spy move. Never tell your feelings. The lack of expression put me on edge. Has he figured me out yet? Marcus isn't here to back me up if needed. If he figured anything about me, then he's got the upper hand, because I still know nothing about him. I needed to play this safe. Very safe. If he is suspicious, I need to divert his suspicions. If he is not, then I need to know why he's watching me.

I nod at him in greeting as I make sure my expression remains composed. He simply smiles and nods back and with that I make my way out of his sight and into the parade room where Steve was already back and everyone started looking through files and files.

As I search through the files my thoughts start to wander. Jameson's gaze at me still baffled me. He may have been a great spy, but so am I. 'Ice Queen' has been a nickname that followed me in the agency. We had to be cold in our line of work, but I was colder than any other agent. I was good at hiding my feelings, no one knew anything about me, who I really was, what happened to me. And no one ever got my time of day. I never showed interest in anyone. I guess that kind of offended the other spies. The fact that I never returned their interest. Most thought I just thought of myself above them. They called me stuck-up. I was just not into the whole getting emotionally attached thing. After Nick left and I joined the intelligence department I shut my emotions down. I was never the kind of person to get into anything for fun, either serious or not. Which is why it was easy for my heart to get broken. So I refused to get emotionally attached, especially not while doing this job. The last person I was with emotionally and physically was Nick, and he broke me. So I put my walls up. High up. Keep people away. Marcus got through the barriers because he never tried to get with me. He never asked for anything. He simply offered me friendship and I took it. So other than him no one came close to unraveling my personality. That was until today.

Even though the interaction was short timed, every time she watched me talk, I could feel her eyes seeing through me. If anyone else asked me if I was talking to my boyfriend on the phone, I'd simply ignore to answer. Yet I found myself making sure she knew I was single. I should've just stayed silent. That's how I would've treated anyone else. Left them to their conclusions. But I felt I had to tell her I had no boyfriend. Once she announced she was into girls, I knew then I had to stay away, otherwise Marcus would get his wish, and I'd probably get lost in her. Who am I kidding? I was already getting lost if I was still thinking about her.

Damn it! Pull yourself together Gail. You can't risk anyone's life. Not when you're on a mission like this. Especially _not_ Holly.

"Nothing." Steve says as he closes the last file after a couple hours of searching through them.

"Anything else we can look into?" Callaghan asks.

"Maybe they were foreigners. Maybe that's why they're not in the database." Traci suggests.

"Maybe." Callaghan points at Traci and nods.

Before any more suggestions and actions could be made Best walks into the room. I'm guessing the department got to him. He's here to end our relation to the case.

"No more investigating this. Every file you guys have on this case I need you to hand them over. 52 will be doing the same. Everyone here is off this case." The sergeant says in his authoritative voice.

"What? Why?" Callaghan asks irritated.

"Our divisions are off this case. The higher ups are taking over it. So every trace of this case that you have, hand it over immediately. I expect to have everything in my office in twenty minutes." Best orders. "And looking further into this case will lead to dismissal. Am I being clear?"

We all simply nod and Best walks away.

"Damn it." Luke Callaghan says as he storms out of the room and towards his office in this devision. I'm guessing to collect all he has on this case.

"Well, looks like you were right." Sam says to me.

"Yeah, I hope the higher ups figure this out. I'm not sure it'd be good if another dead body shows up." I say as I collect the files in front of me.

"Agree." Traci says as she does the same.

"Well, The Black Penny anyone?" Steve asks. "I could use a drink after this."


	9. Penny

"Here's some Officer Lunchbox interaction. I had to start their 'Friendship'. Or we can call it that for now ;)

**9. Penny**

"So Gail, what's your poison?" Traci asks me as she stands up ready to go to the bar and order some drinks.

"Get her some tequila shots and beer." Steve says as he looks at me smiling happy that he knows what I like, but unfortunately I can't drink heavily tonight.

"No, just one beer, I'm driving so can't consume more." I justify why I can't drink. I also can't drink because I've got to go to Marcus's for more answers.

"You can handle your liquor. You were always able to handle it." Steve reminds me with a frown. I guess I've been away for a long time and he doesn't want to feel like he doesn't know me anymore. The thing is even back then he didn't completely know me, but I've been gone too long to let that look on his face remain.

"Of course I can. I can outdrink all of you losers." I say with a scoff, making sure the Gail my brother knows shows up.

"So one shot?" He asks hopefully.

"Fine, one. Can't say no to Jose Cuervo." I joke as I give in to Steve's request. He's right, I've always been able to hold my liquor, so why not?

Traci simply nods and walks towards the bar to order our drinks.

When Steve suggested we get drinks, everyone agreed to come. But the three of us, Steve, Traci and me arrived alone. Sam wanted to wait for Andy. And Traci said that everyone will probably come in after shift. So I thought it'd be a great opportunity to catch up with my brother and to get some much needed information if possible. So here I am sitting in the bar that I know my brother frequents a lot, waiting for a drink from his girlfriend, and aware that this night will be full of questions from strangers that Steve might call friends. I always made a bad first impression. I've always been socially awkward, especially around new people. But having to work undercover most of the time meant I had to learn to deal with people. I had to learn how to act and play nice. I had to pretend to be who I am not. But here, with Steve it was hard to put on the act. It was hard to be someone you're not when I had people I needed to impress. I was going to spend this evening with Steve's friends, I was going to make conversation with his girlfriend, I was going to be around people I had to work with for some time, and that was scary. I didn't want to mess up, have them hate Gail Peck. Which is why maybe I needed alcohol. Maybe Steve was right. I can hold my liquor so why not? It could make this situation less awkward. For me at least. Or was I scared of actually liking them? Becoming friends with them? Of adding more people to the list of people I will hurt when I leave behind with no explanation when the time comes?

"Nice car you got there Gail." Steve notes as he eyes my twitchy hands. I guess he's trying a safe approach at a conversation. When I was given my mission to be a detective, I knew that using my own car was out of the question. No way a detective could afford such an expensive car. So I asked to be sent an alternate car that was at a bit more reasonable price for a detective. So I left my convertible M6 BMW where it lies, and settled for a 4-series Platinum Blue convertible BMW, a car that was only meant for two.

"Thanks. Still paying for it." Even on a detective salary, I wouldn't easily afford it.

"Never thought you'd go for sports cars there little sister." He says as a way of asking though. As if he's wondering what possible urged me to buy such a car.

"Well I wanted a fast car and I like the color." I shrug.

He simply laughs at that, and Traci comes back with the drinks to that scene.

"So is chivalry dead?" I point at Steve getting ready for the assault at him, while tracy places the drinks in front of us.

"Why you ask?" He asks me with raised eyebrows.

"Uh, hello! You let your girlfriend get the drinks. Isn't that supposed to be your job when she's around?" I mock him and Traci chuckles at my statement.

"I just didn't want you to feel awkward without me here." Steve admits and in a way it was endearing, but I could handle myself. Even if I was scared and awkward.

"I'm okay Steve don't worry," I reassure him.

He nods and places the tequila shot in front of me as he and Traci hold up theirs.

"Well here's to you being back," he says as he holds his drink up towards me and Traci does the same. I roll my eyes at him before lifting mine and then all three of us down our shots.

"So mom called. She says to remind you about tomorrow's dinner." Steve says after we put our empty shots on the table and take our beers.

"Right, the dinner in hell." I say sarcastically.

"It won't be bad. She misses you, and dad wants to see you." Steve tries to reason.

"Steve, you and I both know that what happened yesterday was a one off. It won't happen again, she won't be nice tomorrow. She'll scold me and judge me and she'll make me feel extremely guilty over everything. She'll tell me how disappointed she is that I ran away, because Pecks don't run away." I recite to him what I'm sure will be said tomorrow. "I'm sure dad will be happy to see me, but he'll just sit back and let mom scold me during the whole dinner and he won't say a word. I know how this goes. I may have been gone for a while, but mother will never change and you know it."

"Or, she'll be happy you're back and proud that you made detective so fast." He tries to reason again and Traci just scoffs.

"Steve, even I know Gail's right." I'm guessing Traci's meetings with my mother haven't been all that pleasant, considering she's siding with me on this.

"Okay, maybe you're right. But we'll be there. We'll even bring Leo, she can't be very mean in front of Leo." He says as he takes a sip of his beer.

"And Leo is?" I ask.

"My son." Traci answers.

"Oh." I guess asking a lot of questions at this moment wouldn't be appropriate, but I'm also guessing that he's Traci's son only, as in Steve is so not the dad. That'll have to be a story for another time then. "Yeah, I don't suggest you bring him. Maybe next dinner or something. But kid or not, Elaine Peck won't be nice tomorrow." I tell Traci as I reach for my beer. If we're going to talk about my mother I will most definitely be needing the alcohol.

"Thank you Gail." Traci says nodding towards me, understanding that I wasn't asking her not to bring him because I didn't want him there, but for his own safety.

"I do want to meet him though. You know, since I may sorta be his aunt." I joke and they both just chuckle.

"Soon." Traci promises.

Just then Andy and Sam join us at the table. "Hey guys." Andy greets as she takes off her jacket and drapes it over a seat next to me and then sits.

"Hey, I'll be right back." Sam greets and then departs towards the bar, I'm guessing to get drinks for him and Andy.

"So how's your case going? Sam didn't tell me anything?" Andy asks us.

"We've just gotten relieved from the case. More free time for us." Steve says as he lifts his cup in salute.

"What? You just let the case go?" Andy asks confused.

"No. The big guys took over. Might as well. They need to do some proper real police work from time to time." I mock them as I explain the situation.

Sam then places two drinks on the table, one in front of Andy as he sits down.

"Interesting first day for you huh Peck?" Sam asks me as he sits down.

"You could say that." I pick up my beer and sip.

"I've heard from Frank that you've solved many big cases in Vancouver." Sam praises.

"Yeah, lucky devision. Having me here." I start the sarcasm as I sip my drink.

"Actually yeah, we could use someone so infuriating." Sam says and I just chuckle. "I actually wanted to punch you in the face when you were in that interrogation room."

"Actually, I think you wanted to punch me more when I was walking out of the station without even giving you an answer." I take a guess.

"Probably, yeah. A possible suspect walking out. I thought Frank was losing it." He says.

I place my drink down as I feel my phone vibrate. I reach for it in my pocket.

_Get ready. Jameson is walking into the bar. _Marcus texts.

I simply frown. I didn't tell him I was coming into the bar.

_Are you stalking me now? _I ask him.

_No. I'm stalking him. ;) _. Was the wink face necessary?

_Dork._

_Make conversation._ texts back ignoring my dork statement.

_Affirmative._ I text as I erase all texts and place my phone back into my pocket. Once it's in my pocket I reach for my drink.

"What's that?" Steve asks out of nowhere.

"What?" Traci asks him.

When I follow his eye sight, I notice he's looking at my wrist. My sleeve had ridden up and my right wrist was visible, which meant so were the double scars I had there.

"How'd you get those?" Steve asks me concern filling his eyes as he points at my wrist.

"Perks of the job." I answer as I ignore his look and go back to my drink.

"Gail." He says my name, and I know he's telling me my answer is not enough. He needs to know more, to ease his mind.

"No big deal Steve, I'm fine. Being a police officer means putting yourself at harms risk. So I've had a few bad days on the job. Haven't we all?" I say in dismissal as I pull my sleeve down to cover the scars.

"They look deep Gail. How'd you get them?" Steve pushes for more information.

"Does it matter? Are you gonna ask about every scar I have? What's done is done, let's move on." I try to dismiss the conversation. In the past five years I've been through a lot. I have gained many scars. I've been cut and shot at. I've been tortured and I almost died more than once. But he doesn't need to know that. He doesn't need to worry about my undercover everyday life.

"You have more than those?" Steve catches on and that's when I realize I slipped, and mentioned more scars.

"Nothing that calls for worry." I lower my voice and make it softer, hoping to assure him that I'm fine.

"Gail." He pleads with me, for more information I'm guessing.

"Fine Steve." I relent. I guess I could bring it as close to the truth as I can now. I got the scars on my wrist when I was on a mission in Whitehorse Yukon. I got captured and tortured for answers. They tried to suffocate me with water and starve me, and after two days of no answers from me they then they strapped me to a chair, and started cutting into my wrist and arm when I wouldn't tell anything. I have five more scars on my arms, three on the top of my right arm, and one on my left wrist and another on the top of my left arm. One of the cuts on my right wrist was too deep, it was deep enough to bleed me to death. Luckily my partner at the time Hannah found me just then and made sure I got stitched up before taken away for medical care. But I couldn't tell Steve any of that. So I lie.

"I was kidnapped on an undercover mission a few months ago. They captured me and tortured me by making cuts on my arms for information. They thought I'd talk if I was going to bleed to death. But my fellow officers found me in time. That mission is what guaranteed my promotion to detective." I lie and Steve believes it.

"How badly were you hurt?" He swallows heavily and I could feel the heavy atmosphere at our table. Everyone was quiet, probably thinking the same thing.

"Just the cuts, most of them didn't even scar." I try to reassure them that the cuts were all. I'm guessing they thought it was worse. I wasn't raped, even in reality. I was just tortured. I remember walking out with so many bruises on my face, and all I was worried about was having a broken nose. Because sneezing would be difficult then.

I'm guessing the look in Steve's eyes at that moment means that I am not to tell him about any other bad days I've had. I hope he doesn't notice any other scar. I have three gun shot wounds. Thankfully my everyday clothes requires to have them hidden. I'll just ignore beach season. Which is so far away from now considering it's mid october.

"Hey guys." Diaz and Epstein greet us then, breaking the tension.

"Hey!" Andy greets them. They just pull a table close to ours as Sam shuffles his seat to make room for it and them.

"Where are your drinks?" Traci asks them as they sit.

"Ian's taking care of that." Epstein says pouting towards the bar.

So I'll be sitting at the same table as Jameson. Time to play it right and play it safe then. But when I look towards the bar I see him and Nick getting drinks. Shit! I really didn't want to deal with Nick right now.

A minute later I see them both walking towards our table each with a drink in hand. And I simply glare at Nick as he catches my eye. I was hoping my icy glare would tell him he's not allowed to sit at this table. But he simply lifts the right side of his mouth in defiance and comes towards our table.

Once Chris and Dov get their drinks the other two take a seat.

"So detectives, anything on the case?" 'Ian' asks us.

"Higher ups took over. No more talk about the case." Sam answers and I scoff.

"So much for a homicide on my first day on the job here." I say as I drink the last bit of my drink.

"No murders of this mystery level in Vancouver?" 'Ian' asks as he meets my eyes. He was being defiant. I don't know if I'm being paranoid, but I felt like he was daring me to slip up.

"Oh of course. But none that I handled. Even though I begged to help." I chuckle. "Guess a detective in training was pretty much a rookie. I was on coffee duty most of the time and file ordering." I say with another scoff.

"Yeah, that was the most annoying part." Traci agrees as she nods at me.

That answer and Traci's support seemed to satisfy him for a while.

"And you said Ottawa right?" I ask him. "No big mystery killings there? Is it just gloomy old gothic Toronto who gets them?" I joke. Considering he was questioning the homicides in Vancouver, I tried to make it as if he was insinuating that a murder like this only happens in Toronto, dark city. Which is not true.

"Nothing an officer like myself got concerned about." He answers calmly as he takes a drink and meets my eyes.

I get distracted by a text message.

_All well?_ Marcus asks.

_I'm confused on whether he's on to me or not. He stares too much and asks too many questions. _I text back.

_He's just paranoid cause you're the new kid on the job. Just prove him wrong._ he reassures me. I look up from my phone and 'Ian' is still staring at me.

_As long as the creepy staring stops. _I text back.

_Maybe he likes you. You are easy on the eye. But once he'll know you, yuck. _He jokes in his texts and I can't help but contemplate his suggestion. What if he does? The agency can't ask me to go with it can they? Because I am not sure I can play that part well undercover.

_I think that would be creepier. _I tell him hoping he gets what I mean.

_Agreed! _He texts and ten follows it with another text. _Besides, you got a hot Pathologist to think about._

_Asshole._ I text as I chuckle quietly and tuck my phone back into my pocket.

"Anyone interesting?" Steve teases me when I meet his eyes.

"A friend from Vancouver. Just checking in." I answer him.

"So not a boyfriend?" He asks digging for information.

"Nope, definitely not a boyfriend." I answer him and I hear Nick scoff at my statement.

"What?" I ask him meanly.

"Nothing. You're not exactly the type for that." He says with an amused smile and raised hands as if in surrender.

"The type for what?" I keep my mean tone.

"Long distance dating. Or just the girlfriend type in general." He says as he picks up his drink. How dare he judge? The asshole.

"Last I remember, _you_ were the one with the issues." I jab at him. "I don't recall making promises and then getting cold feet. Because that wasn't me who did that, was it?"

"Gail…" He starts, his tone telling me he was about to try and make our situation better, as if I'd tolerate him, or worse, try to apologize.

"Shut up!" I cut him off as I get up.

"Where you going?" Steve asks me worried that I might storm off.

"Well I'm hungry. So I'm going to get food. And when I come back I expect soldier boy here to ignore me." I answer as I throw my icy glare towards Nick.

"Okay." Steve nods.

"Anyone want anything?" I ask trying not to be too rude by walking without asking them. And they all shake their heads in the negative.

As I walk away from the table and towards the bar to order some food, I could swear I saw 'Ian' discreetly smirk.

When I make my way to the bar and order my food, I decide to wait for it there. I could collect myself and get my anger to subside before I go back there.

After a few minutes of standing by the bar I feel presence behind me. I don't have to turn around to know it's him. Why did he follow me?

"Detective Peck," 'Ian' says as he comes closer to stand next to me. He leans at the bar just as I'm doing.

"Gail, we're not at work, so you can call me Gail." I let him know as I wait for him to make his intentions known.

"Gail." He says as if he's trying my name out. "Collins is an idiot you know." He adds.

"Oh that I am aware of." I agree.

"I'm guessing you guys used to date?" He asks.

"I was lacking some sight and brains at the time. Otherwise we wouldn't have." I say through clenched teeth. The subject of Nick just irritates me.

"Well then he's an idiot." He says again.

"You said that already."

"Yeah well, he's a bigger idiot, for letting you go." He explains as he straightens his posture and I just look at him questioningly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Gail." He says as he nods.

"You're leaving?" I ask.

"Early shift." And with that statement he turns around and walks away.

Shit! Did he just flirt with me? Marcus is so gonna love this.

Just as I shake those thoughts from my head and turn back towards the bar to wait for my food I feel other sets of eyes on me. I turn to my left and I am met with brown eyes only less than two feet away from me.

"That went well." My brown eyed observer says.

"Lunchbox." I greet her with my new nickname for her and she simply chuckles at my annoying way of greeting.

"Detective." She says as she brings her lips up into a lopsided grin.

The bartender places her drink in front of her and she pays for it. Jack and coke. Nice.

"So you're here." I state.

"Well since I have no case to work on. Thought I'd get a drink." She explains as she takes the first sip.

"They took the body huh?" I ask her.

"Yes." She nods.

"Gotta love the big guys." I say sarcastically.

"Well it looks like _that_ big guy," she points at the entrance to the pub where 'Ian' just walked out, "has a thing for you."

"Oh, can't help it if people fawn at my feet. Nothing to get jealous about Lunchbox." I tease with a wink and she simply shakes her head at me.

"One cheeseburger platter with no tomatoes." The man at the bar says as he places my burger in front of me.

"Thanks." I say as I take it.

"Not a fan of tomatoes?" Holly asks.

"Not when I'm allergic." I answer as I start to walk away. When I'm a few steps away I turn back towards her. "Well come on Lunchbox, can't have you sitting there alone. You can sit with me." I say as I smile teasingly.

"Are you ever going to use my name?" She asks as she gets up and walks towards me.

"Not nearly as fun." I answer and we both make it towards the table.

When we reach the table I grab the empty chair where 'Ian' was sitting and place it on the other side of the table next to mine. I don't think I want Holly sitting next to Nick, that would mean I'd have to look his way more than I wished to.

Once I place the chair in place, I place my plate in front of my seat and sit down.

"Thank you." Holly says as she sits down and then she greets everybody.

Everyone greets her with a "Dr Stewart" except for Traci who calls her 'Holly'.

"Got some unexpected free time?" Sam asks her.

"Yes, they took the body away. Nothing to poke at." She answers with a smile as she drinks.

"No dead body talk, I'm eating." I warn as I grab my burger and dig in.

"Okay," Holly says as she meets my eyes with a lopsided grin.

"Good." I tell her in between bites.

"You're a messy eater aren't you?" She then asks me as she observes the way I eat and I don't bother to take a breath from chewing my burger and simply nod.

Steve just laughs at that. "She really is. Gail loves her food." He says as he reaches forward and suddenly I see him snatch a french-fry off my plate. "She also hates sharing food." He adds as he puts the fry in his mouth.

"Jerk." I say as soon as I swallow. "Keep your hands off my food." I warn and pull the plate closer to myself as I go back to eating as Steve lifts his hands in surrender. I can hear a few chuckles around the table. I simply refuse to look up and meet their eyes, especially not Holly's which I'm sure would be bemused now.

"People!" Officer Shaw greets as he approaches and then he grabs an empty seat and places it next to Nick.

"Oliver" and "hey"s take place in greeting.

"So little Peck how was the first day at 15?" He asks me.

"My name is Gail you know." I tell him with a smile. Somehow it feels wrong to be rude to this man. "But it went well, thanks for asking."

"Good, that means you'll stick around, Gail." He adds my name just for my benefit and I smile. He then turns towards Sam and Andy and they pick up a conversation.

I feel Holly creep her hand towards my plate but I act like I don't see her. Once she reaches it she takes a fry and that's when I look up to meet her eyes with raised eyebrows. She simply gives me a challenging look as she puts the french fry inside her mouth and chews it. I squint my eyes at her but say nothing and do nothing. She then reaches for another one with her defying look still meeting mine. She grabs another fry and raises her eyebrows waiting for my reaction. I lose my squint and shrug at her as I slide my plate a little closer to hers.

"No biting my head off?" She jokes as she eats the fry in her hand.

"Not in the mood." I answer lamely and she simply gives me her signature grin.

"Seriously?" Steve exclaims having witnessed the exchange.

"Shut up Steve." I shoot at him as I go back to finishing my cheeseburger. Traci then simply chuckles.

"Well, I'm going to buy our next round." Steve says as he stands up. "Beer everyone?"

Everyone nods agreeing to his suggestion.

"Gail?" He asks me. Since I gave no nodding answer.

"Sure why not? Just this one." I guess Two beers and one shot can't even make me tipsy so why not.

"I'll come help with the drinks." Diaz says as he stands up and walks away with my brother towards the bar.

.

Two hours later and everyone except me is pretty much wasted. They've all been sharing stories about each other, and me being the new one, was blessed enough to be told all of them. Traci told me some embarrassing stories about Steve and I was happy I was being given some amunition to use against him later on. Even Holly seemed to fit into their group, even though I learned that she rarely hangs out with them outside work. I guess she was the kind of person to fit in everywhere. She even shared some stories of her own. And throughout the night, I was the silent listener. If anyone was to ask me for stories, I would simply divert their attention to something else, and surprisingly I was listening to everything they were saying. I guess I can admit that I was having a bit of fun.

"I guess it's time for me to go." Holly says as she stands up.

"You got a ride?" I ask her worried. She'd had a few more beers than she intended and I was sure she wasn't fit to drive.

"No, I'll leave my car here. I'll just call a cab." She answers.

"No you won't." I tell her as I stand up and grab my jacket from behind my seat. "Come on, I'll take you home." I answer her as I pick up her jacket and handed to her.

"Are you sure you can drive?" She asks as she wears her jacket.

"I only had two beers."

"Okay." She then pockets her phone. "Goodnight everyone."

"Anyone else need a ride?" I ask the bunch and they all shake their heads negatively.

"Don't worry Gail, we're good." Steve nods towards me with a smile.

"Okay then, see you people tomorrow. Goodnight." I then walk behind Holly as she leads the way to the exit and towards the parking lot.

"Is there anything in your car that you need?" I ask her once we're outside.

"I should probably take my briefcase out." She says and then walks towards her car and takes it out. "Okay all ready." She adds as she makes sure her car is locked.

I then lead her towards my car and help her get in. Once I turn my car on I ask for her address.

"Guess I'm in luck, you're on my way." I tell her as I pull out of the parking.

I drive her home in silence with only the sound of the radio playing. She hums to some song I haven't heard before and I feel relaxed. This stranger somehow made me feel relaxed, as if it doesn't matter whether I'm Gail Peck, or Charlie Sawyer with her, because with her I'm completely my own person, far from any of the other two.

"Here we are." I inform her once I park in front of her house.

"Thank you Gail." She says as she turns towards me but doesn't walk out of the car.

"When does your shift start tomorrow?" I surprise myself with the question.

"10 AM, why?" She asks.

"Mine too. Need me to pick you up and drop you off to your car?" I ask nicely. I don't know why I'm offering but the thought of her without a car makes me anxious.

"Didn't know you care so much about me detective." She teases with a grin.

"Don't flatter yourself, you just happen to be on my way." I scoff. "I could retract my offer you know." I warn.

"I would actually really appreciate it." She accepts my offer. "You know, I could even buy you breakfast as a thank you, if you don't mind." She adds in invitation.

"Since you're buying why not." I shrug and try to hide my excitement at her offer.

"Good." She says and reaches for the door handle.

Before she pulls the door open I reach for her phone inside her pocket. She barely even notices as she opens the door and attempts to walk out.

"Wait." I say as I offer her phone back to her.

"How did you?" She asks and cuts off her question.

"I added my number in there. Use it if you happen to need anything." I say as she reaches for the phone and gives me a smirk.

"You should really put a lock on your phone." I warn her as I start my car.

"Goodnight Gail." She then says.

"Goodnight Holly." The fact that I just used her name for the first time doesn't go unnoticed by her. She then closes my car door with a smile, and I wait patently till she gets inside her home safely before I pul out of the driveway.

I drive towards Marcus's and get there about eight or so minutes later. Once I get my seatbelt off I hear my phone chime with a text.

_Thanks for the ride officer. _The text reads. Holly.

_You know I'm a detective right? Or are you too drunk to remember? _I text back teasing.

_Shame. I always liked a girl in a uniform._ She then adds and I hear myself swallow. I'm already going in deep and I don't know how. I thought I told myself I couldn't drag anyone into my crazy life, but it looks like I'm the one dragging myself into her life now and that wasn't fair, not to her. Not if I can't give her what I want to give.

_Oh well, there's plenty of women out there in different uniforms, pick one._ It may be wrong to do this, but my mind seemed to decide to flirt back.

_Smart observation there. Are you home yet or drive texting? _She then adds as she changes the subject.

_Yes I arrived home. You don't have to worry. _I tell her.

_Okay good. Goodnight Gail, see you tomorrow._ She then texts putting an end to our somehow awkward flirty texting and I'm immediately grateful.

_Goodnight Lunchbox._

_And here I thought you'd start using my name_. I could tell the nickname wasn't as annoying as it was before.

_Not a chance._ I save her number in my phone under _Lunchbox _and I then leave my car with that and put my phone back in my pocket. I lock my car and make my way towards Marcus's place.

Maybe a friend couldn't hurt. Even though I want so much more. I just knew her a day and she's already driving me crazy and crossing my barriers. But I really can't drag her into a life like mine. I need to keep myself in check and keep myself away from her life. Can't let her fall for me, even though I'm sure spending time with her during this mission will definitely get me to fall for her.

I guess there's no escaping Holly Stewart now.


	10. Brown Eyed Girl

Let me say it again, thank you for the great reviews. They really encourage me to write this story and make sure it's good enough for you guys.

Gail is the most complex character on the show. She's been through so much, and she keeps growing. Especially this season. Gail is growing up, and it's adorable, it's heartbreaking and it's amazing to watch.

As Nick pointed out that Gail wasn't always this guarded. He told her she was always a bitch but she wasn't like this, that she knew how to have fun. He said she was once fun and care free. So maybe him leaving her when they were getting married made her pull her walls up? Or was it the academy and everything that comes with being a Peck that weighed in on her? Something made her feel the need to build walls up around her and now she's trying to fight it off.

Also, I hated how Nick told her that she wasn't exactly girlfriend material. Considering she was completely willing to marry him, when he left. So I guess that makes _him_ the one scared of commitment. I just wanted to smack him when he said that. I'm not saying Nick's a bad guy, but he plays a big part in Gail's insecurities.

I guess that's why the Gail in the show and my Gail are a little different. It's just the fact that my Gail hasn't been through what the other has. In my story Gail picked a different Path that gave her confidence and strength because of the secrecy that comes with it. She still has her walls up, but she's not going to let anyone feed her insecurities about what she's capable of or walk all over her.

And to answer a question, YES! I do intend on writing more about Gail's scars. It's just a story for another time.

Thank you for reading! :)

* * *

**10. Brown Eyed Girl**

Alarm.

Snooze.

Zone off.

Alarm.

Smack phone.

Snooze.

Grumble.

Zone off.

Alarm.

Ah! FUCK IT!

Switch off.

Get up.

That was how it usually went when it was time to wake up. Sometimes it takes up to eight alarms to wake me up. I'm not exactly a morning person, never was, but in the need for change, I opted to some new morning habits. Even though I had to literally drag myself out of bed, it didn't take long for me to completely wake up. And no matter how many hours of sleep I get, even if just a couple, I never felt too tired to face the day. Perks of being a trained spy, trained to kill. Had to be alert at all times.

Last night after I dropped Holly off, I drove to Marcus's loft. Once we settled in** 'The Goblin House'**as he would call it, (The nerd, since it was a chamber that held his gadgets and weapons as well as information system, just like the Green Goblin's lair in Spiderman was for, so he gave it the same name. While the one at my house was called **Fortress of Solitude **or **Batcave.**It all depends on who wins our argument of who's better, Batman of Superman.) We called Stevens and she filled me in on the details of the gang with the tattoo and the details of the operation to which they sent our spies to. After I was satisfied with knowledge I told her that Jameson had interest in me. Marcus chuckled and taunted while she warned me about how dangerous it could be.

"If it were any other person, any other mission I would've given you the option, I would've asked if you wanted to go into this intimately, to make the mission easier. But not this mission. Becoming intimate with someone like Jameson will be dangerous, for the mission and for your life. He was one of the best. He'll know something's up immediately. He'll suspect you immediately. And he won't hesitate to kill you and then run. So be careful, and try your best not to encourage his affections, don't give him a reason to want to get closer to you." That was her warning and Marcus agreed.

Except he added that I should find someone else to find interest in. That way Jameson would give up if he thought I was into someone else. Stevens said it was up to me. Once the screen went off I smacked Marcus on the shoulder, I smacked him hard enough to know that it will bruise. Yet, he still made remarks about the hot pathologist that I was smitten with and that I should just go for it, and then he begged for details. With that I told him goodnight and told him I was leaving. I made it home after 1 AM and I immediately went to bed.

By the time I got out of bed it was after 5AM. I felt like going for a run. I needed to keep my shape. In order to be on top, I had to work for it. Running helped my body stay strong and flexible.

I got a little more than 4 hours of sleep. That was still good for me.

I pulled my hair into a ponytail as I got into my sweats and running shoe. I put on my shorts, sports bra and a shirt. I put my hair in a ponytail and then looked for my armband phone case. Once I had my earphones in and my keys inside the case, I set out for my morning run.

I always hated exercise, I still do. But my job requires it. I've been doing it too much that I actually feel like I need to run. It sometimes helps me clear my head. So I simply let the music take over me as I run towards the nearest park. I intended on running for the next hour and a half. Maybe more.

As I run I think about tonight. I dread what to expect of my mother. I run the fear away, until other thoughts take over.

Holly.

How is it possible I've only known her a day and I'm already smitten? This is so bad. And I'm going to see her this morning. Yes, here come the butterflies. Stupid feelings and stupid hot pathologist with a sexy smirk and interesting mind.

Stupid Gail! Stupid Charlie! Stupid who ever I am! YOU CAN'T SUCK HER INTO THIS! REMEMBER YOUR WORK IS DANGEROUS! AND YOU'RE LEAVING WHEN THIS IS OVER!

If only I would listen to myself. No matter how much I'd try to talk myself into never talking to her again, I can't! Being her friend will be hard, but I need to keep myself in control and not give in to more. It's stupid to assume she'd be interested in me anyways. No one's ever payed that much attention to me. No one's ever needed me or wanted me enough to stay, or even to tell me I was wanted. People always left when they were around me. What makes me think this would be any different. She's just being friendly. And that's how I should be. I shouldn't encourage myself to fall. Not if I was leaving. Not if I needed to catch this guy without harming anyone. I can't risk anyone's life for this, especially not hers.

STOP THINKING!

I turn the volume up on my phone and run faster. Maybe the music will drown out the thoughts. For a while it works, as I focus on the music. Until I bump into Steve and Traci who were running the other way towards me, right as I make it to the park and Steve gives me a questioning look. So we stop in front of each other and I pull my earphones out to hear them.

"Gail?" He asks breathless and surprised. "You're running? You never run."

"I'm a detective Steve. How will I catch the bad guys if I can't keep up. If only I had mind control abilities. Wouldn't need to move a muscle. Catch em all like that, just like superheroes." I say sarcastically as I snap my fingers at my last comment.

"You've always been a nerd!" He teases.

"You're one to talk! Captain of the universe!" I say as I lightly punch him in the shoulder and Traci laughs.

"He actually saved that as his name in my phone." Traci informs me and I simply smirk evilly at Steve.

"Don't." He warns but I ignore him.

"Did he ever tell you how he got that name?" I ask her and she shakes her head no.

"Gail." Steve warns and again I ignore him.

"Well you see, my brother here, when he was probably ten, thought that Captain America was cool. But he was only captain of America. So Steve thought he'd one day be Captain of the whole universe, not just earth, but everything. He'd save the whole universe. He even had a costume drawn and ready. So adorable." I reveal to Traci as I give Steve a triumphant smile.

"Awww, that's so adorable." Traci coos at him.

"You're a jerk." He Tells me with his annoyed face.

"Mostly to you." I say as I hold my smile to him.

"Whatever. You want me to pick you up tonight? Or will you make it there by yourself?" He asks as way to change the subject.

"I think I know the way." I think it'd be better if I make it there myself. I can make it there at my own pace then.

"You're not going to bail, right?" He makes sure.

"Nope. I'll be there ready to consume all the booze and listen to mommy dearest lecture me." I tell him as I give him an annoyed fake smile.

"You'll survive." He reassures me. "We'll back you up." He than points and himself and Traci.

"You guys are sickeningly cute. So if you excuse me, I'd like to avoid this yack fest and continue my run." I make sure to keep my tone teasing, so Traci wouldn't be offended. She doesn't know me, or never _knew _me, so she's not used to my annoying side.

"Charmer as ever. Want to catch breakfast after this?" Steve asks me before I can put my earphones back in.

"Sorry bro, someone else beat you to it and promised me free breakfast." I tell him as I put one earphone in.

"Who?" He questions and I simply ignore him as I smile and put the other earphone in. I make sure the volume is up as I make my way around them to continue my run.

The song then ends and a new one begins.

Great! 'Brown Eyed Girl' just came on!

As If I needed more things to make me think of Holly. Stupid shuffle.

* * *

_Hey Lunchbox! You better not still be sleeping! Cause you promised me free food and I'm starving! _I text Holly once I'm done with the shower and completely dressed. It was almost 8AM.

_I don't remember that. I already ate. _Holly texts back. And somehow I know she's lying.

_Bullshit! I'm picking you up in ten. So be outside. _I tell her as I tuck my phone into my pocket, grab my keys and wallet with my badge, I find my gun and put it in it's holder. Once I'm sure everything's ready I make my way out to my car.

_Too damn bossy officer. I'm not sure I want to buy you breakfast if you'll just boss me around. _I receive that text once I get in my car.

_Sorry to disappoint but I don't have a uniform. I'm a detective. Sorry you missed me when I was actually in uniform. So suck it up, I am the boss sometimes. _I text.

_Not MY_ _boss. _She reminds me.

I then don't answer back as turn my car on, put it to drive and make my way to her house.

When I make it outside, she's nowhere to be seen. So I refuse to walk to the door. I just honk and wait.

Ten seconds later and Holly walks out of her front door carrying a folder.

Has she always been this breathtaking? Is it possible she's even better looking than she was yesterday? HOLD IT TOGETHER GAIL. KEEP THE COLD CALM FACE!

I may have been able to hold my facial expression, but I couldn't control the tingles that were starting to take over my whole body.

"Really? You honked?" Holly asks as she approaches my car. I had chosen to drive with the top off, since it was sunny.

"Meh, couldn't be bothered to do anything else. Thought I'd make my presence known somehow." I tell her with a shrug.

"Riiiight." She drags her word as she opens the car door and gets in. Once the door is closed and she's got her seatbelt on she looks at me with a friendl smile.

"Good morning officer." She greets.

"Seriously? I thought we established that I don't wear a uniform." I don't mind her calling me officer. I am not a detective either.

"Hey, you call me Lunchbox and it's annoying. Thought I'd find a way to retune the favor." She quips with a shrug.

"Whatever. Where we going?" I ask her for the destination.

"Depends. What's your favorite breakfast?" She answers with a question.

"Ugh, if it's up to me then, I sure hope the diner is still there." I say as I put my car on drive and pull out of her driveway.

"There where?" She questions.

"There's this diner me and Steve used to go to a lot for breakfast once a week. Siblings bonding. Since we barely saw each other then. Also, it had the best pancakes. But then I left. So I don't know what happened to it." I don't know why I answered her so honestly but it didn't feel like an effort to talk to her. It felt easy and I liked that.

"What's with the music?" She then asks as she reaches for the radio to switch my music.

"No touching my radio. You don't like this song just press next on my iPod." I answer her to stop her from reaching my sound system and switching it to radio. I had way too many songs so I put them on an iPod, since they only fit on it. I guess I bought a lot of albums, some artists I've never heard of. I wasn't always into music. I used to listen to anything with a good beat that was good enough to dance to or get drunk to, but then one of my missions lead me to infiltrate a local band, where one of it's members was a suspect for cyber attacks. For unleashing viruses into the governments system. The band was looking for a female singer to feature in some of their originals. So the agency for some reason sent me in. They weren't sure if he was working alone, or what kind of software he was using, so I needed to work to get all the information. It took me a month to take him down along with his two accomplices. In that month I'd learned a lot about music and got introduced to a lot of great bands and artists, thus my love for music.

"You have a lot of songs." Holly notes as she scrolls through my music on my iPod.

I don't give her an answer to that. I don't feel like explaining my love for music, or anything else. I simply wait for her to pick a song. Once she picks something, the drive continues in silence as we both just listen to the music, until I reach our destination.

"So it's still here." I note as I get out of my car and face the old diner.

"Never been here before." She says as she closes her door too.

"You're gonna love it." And with that I lead her inside the place.

Once we go in, I look to the far left side of the place to see if our favorite booth was empty. Somehow when we first started to come here, Steve and I always ended up eating at that table.

I immediately take a seat, and she simply looks at me questioningly as she takes a seat opposite me.

"What? I like this booth." I answer her silent question.

"Feeling nostalgic?" She teases.

"Whatever." I ignore to answer as I lift my hand trying to wave the waitress over.

A young girl, probably late teens, comes over to our table carrying two menus, she's definitely new.

"Hello, my name is Jenna. Can I start you with something to drink?" She asks once she hands us the menu and she takes out her notepad.

"A giant mug of coffee please." I order.

"Me too." Holly says and with that the waitress nods and promises to be back soon with our coffees and to take our order.

"So what's good here?" Holly then asks as she adjusts her glasses and looks over the menu.

"Everything?" Whatever she'd order would be good, I'm sure. I already know what I'll be getting, so I just lay my menu down on the table and watch Holly as she reads through her menu.

I'm pretty sure she's reading the details of every item on the menu. She looks cute with her eyebrows down and her eyes squinting in concentration. And just like that she looks up at me suddenly. Eyes looking at me above the glasses that have slid down her nose.

"Something fascinating here Peck?" She then asks me with raised eyebrows and a teasing tone.

"Not sure yet. I already know what I'm getting. So I had nothing else to look at." I shrug at her as if I wasn't feeling all the tingles from being caught staring at her, or from her eyes meeting mine.

She simply hums at me then and goes back to looking at the menu with a smirk on her face. And she keeps it up like that till the waitress comes back with our coffee.

"Did you decide on anything? Or will you need more time?" The waitress asks us in her friendly tone.

"Yeah, I'll have the blueberry pancakes, the large plate with eight, and also can I have some baked potatoes and toast on the side with jam?" I order and she writes it down, once I'm done talking I turn towards Holly. "You decide yet?"

"I'll just have the ham and cheese omelet." She answers as she hands the waitress the menu and I do the same. Once Jenna repeats our orders and we confirm them she leaves.

"So I'm guessing you like your food." She starts the conversation. "Are you sure you can eat all that?"

"Oh there will be nothing left on the plate, I'm sure." I say.

"Well it's good then, if you can eat a lot and still look like this." She then points her finger at my body. The way she was gazing at me at that moment made me want to gulp but I hold it in.

"Like what?" I try to get her to say it then. Just to tease her. Try to take the uncomfortable feeling off myself and turn it to her.

She then meets my eyes and hers turn challenging. She caught on to my game. And with that she gives me her lopsided grin and lifts her coffee mug to take a sip.

"Hot." She answers as if it was no big deal, just a statement, a fact, and she continues to sip her coffee and I instantly feel my cheeks turn a little red.

"Me or the coffee?" I ask trying to town down my flushed cheeks.

"We were talking about you weren't we?" She asks with smirk still in place.

Play it cool, Gail. Brush it off, before you can't.

"Yeah always been that way." I say as I nod my head in agreement and pick up my own coffee. "Just like you're a nerd." I point out.

"Not denying that." She can't deny it, I'd find many ways to prove my point and she knows it.

"How old are you anyways? I bet you skipped some grades?" She looks a bit too young to be a forensic pathologist.

"Well why don't you take a guess." She challenges. "You're a detective after all."

"Oh I am? You acknowledge it now?" I tease and she just gives me a knowing smirk. "Fine… Let's see, if you went about this without skipping any grades or any college classes, I'd say you'd be about 33 or 34. That's assuming you've been doing this job for a while. But you don't look above thirty. So you must have skipped some grades. So my guess is between 28 and 30. So my safest bet is 29."

"Wow. Spot on." She affirms with an impressed expression. "I did start school a year earlier and I did skip a couple of grades. I got to take some college courses while still in high school. So that saved me about 4 years of my life."

"So you're like super smart? That's kinda cool." I tell her.

"I guess." She answers, and with that Jenna the waitress brings our food and places them on the table in front of us.

Once she leaves I rest my coffee mug on the table and slide the pancakes plate closer.

"Good, you're plate gets baked potatoes and toast too, that means I won't have to share mine." I tease her as I also slide the rest closer to me. She simply chuckles at that.

"Well you never share food so." She shrugs and picks up her fork.

"I seem to recall I did last night," I remind her and she smiles. "Don't expect it to happen again though." And with that she chuckles and takes a bight from her omelet and moans.

Why? Why do that to me? The sound alone sends electric shocks through my body.

"You were right, this _is_ good." She says and takes another bite.

With that I grab the butte and smear it on my pancakes before I drown the whole plate with syrup and dig in.

We eat in silence for a while, enjoying the taste, until halfway through our food, Holly breaks the silence.

"So, I told you my age, now your turn." She says as she takes a coffee sip.

I wait to swallow the big pancake bite I took before I answer. "I think I guessed it, you didn't tell me. It's only fair you do the same."

"But you're a detective," She states.

"And you're all professor X, so…" I say as I look at her challengingly.

"Are you sure I'm the nerd?" She asks me. I guess my mention of a superhero wasn't the best idea.

"Yes, positive." And I go back to eating. Can't stay away from my food too long.

"Okay, let's see, I'd say you were about 26?" She guesses.

"Hmm nice try." I say as I shrug and just eat another bite. When I look up she is just looking at me expectantly.

"Well I am not 26 yet. That would happen next month." And back to food.

"Oh. Well close enough." She says with a smile and she goes back to food. "Skip any grades?" She adds with a smirk.

"No. Not a genius like you. After highschool, I took a like two classes or one class a semester for two years. After I left I finished the rest in almost two years, joined the academy and then the police department. A year and a half later I made detective." I recite, a lie I should get used to telling.

"Made detective fast then." She observes.

"Yep, I'm that good." I give a cocky smile and go back to my food.

The rest of our meal is filled with work conversation. She asks me what the biggest case I ever worked on was, if I could tell her. And I lie. I tell her a completely fabricated story and she buys every single word of it.

After a while her phone rings.

"Hey you," She answers it warmly. Her friendly tone indicates it's someone important. Could she already be taken? Why is my heart heavy? Stupid emotions!

"No Zoey, I'm having breakfast." She then exhales exasperatedly. "Yes, I do have it sometimes." Eye roll. "Well what's so important you had to call?" Fixes glasses. "Right. Can we not discuss this now though? ... No I'm not alone... No, I'm not on a date... Would you stop being annoying?..."

So not a girlfriend, a friend? or a sibling maybe?

"I'll be right back." I guess a little privacy could help her deal with this. She nods at me and I get up.

I walk to the counter where the lady who owns the shop usually sits.

"Hey what does our table owe?" I ask her as I pull out my wallet.

"Haven't seen you here in a long while." She says as she looks at her screen for our bill.

"Yeah, have been out of town." I guess I feel flattered she actually remembers me.

"Good to have you back then." She hands me a paper with our bill and I hand her a fifty, a twenty and a ten dollars.

"That's tip." I tell her as she questions why I gave her way more.

"Oh," She says as she calls Jenna over. Once Jenna arrives the lady smiles at me. I return the smile, even give Jenna one and go back to the table just as Holly's hanging up.

"Sorry about that. My sister's a little annoying." She gives me an appologetic look.

"Ah siblings. I know what you mean." I tell her with a smile as I attempt to finish what's left of my food.

"Yeah, I guess you would. Steve seems cool though." She says.

"He is. I mean we used to fight a lot, but we grew to like eachother. We had a united purpose. Standing up to my mother." I say with a fake chuckle.

"Right, superintendent Peck. She's a bit out there." So I take it she's met my mother.

"Sorry you had the mispleasure to meet her." I say with a cringe and she just shakes her head at me. "Tonight's gonna requier a lot of alcohol to stomach."

"What's tonight?" She questions.

"Family dinner. The big reunion." I say sarcastically.

"Is it true then? Have you really not kept contact with anyone since you left?" She asks curiously but also concerned for me.

"Yeah, I was a coward." I exhale.

"No, I'm sure you had your reasons." She justifies for me my behavior.

"Yeah. I guess I did." Like joining the intelligence agency. The undercover part of it. Risking my life on daily basis. That's a good reason.

"So you weren't kidding when you said nothing left on plates huh?" She chuckles as she observes my empty plates.

"Good food can't be thrown away. It's a crime." I tell her.

"Right and you are all about stopping crimes." She teases.

"That too." I smile at her and she smiles back.

"I guess asking for the check is in order." And with that she raises her hand to ask for it.

"Actually it's taken care of." I tell her as I stand up and pick up my jacket.

"What?" She asks surprised and suspicious and I shrug at her. "I thought I was buying? You were excited about free food." She says.

"Change of plans. But next time it's on you." I say as I wear my jacket.

"Next time huh?" She asks with a knowing lopsided smile and I just melt.

"Next time." I say. Before I could say anything else or give in to smiles. I walk towards the exit.

"Gail?" Just I open the door I am greeted by my brother and Traci.

"Steve. Traci." I say as I step aside opening the door for Holly to walk out.

"Hi." She greets them.

"Hey Holly." Traci says as Steve says "Hi."

"Well it was nice bumping into you twice but we gotta go." I say before they could say anything else to eachother. Steve will have so many questions I'm sure. Because I just met Holly yesterday. Well I officially met her yesterday. Unless you can count the first time I bumped into her, litterally bumped into her, while leaving the station. And the Gail Peck Steve knows does't usually hang out with just one person, when she's only just met them. But the Gail Peck I am now, isn't as awkward. Or maybe it's just Holly, and how comfortable I feel around her. Which is unnerving to me. "So see you tonight." I add as I grab Holly's hand and lead her away. She simply waves goodbye at them as we walk towards the car.

Once we reach the car I realize that I haven't let go of her hand yet and the tingles start to take over my body, and with that I just ubruptly let go.

"Sorry." I appologize as I open the door for her to get in.

"It's okay." She answers warmly as she gets in.

"Let's get you to your car." I say once I'm inside and turning the engine on and driving off. I hand Holly the iPod which I put in my pocket and she just plugs it in and puts it on shuffle.

I guess she knew the songs that started playing considering she started singing along. She wasn't bad, but she had some of the lyrics wrong and it was adorable. So I continue my drive towards her car with a smile plastered on my face the whole way.

"Thanks for the ride officer." She turns towards me with a smile once we arrive to The Black penny parking lot.

"Anytime Lunchbox." If she insists on calling me officer, I'll just keep calling her lunchbox.

"I guess I'll see you around?" She asks as she reaches for the handle.

"I guess so. You do have my number." I say with a smirk and she just smiles and opens her door.

"Well I'll be sure to use it, in case you got too scared to use mine." She teases as she gets out.

"Have a nice day Doctor." I tell her pleasantly with a smile.

"Have a nice day detective." She returns my smile and then walks towards her car.

Once she's in and she drives out of the parking lot. I get my car to drive and pull out too.

Being around Holly is easy. I'm already getting sucked in. I don't think I can fight it. But that's not a bad thing right? I'm allowed to be happy, even if just for a bit right? But then again, if I let myself be happy, I'll end up miserable. I'll end up hurting her too, won't I? Damn complicated job!

I have to stop thinking about this for now. I can't make decisions like this. Because if I keep myself in this conflict and let it take over me, I will go crazy.

_Hey where did we go? _

_Days when the rains came._

Damn Shuffle! Playing 'Brown Eyed Girl' again.

God! Holly and her brown eyes! I guess my shuffle is even thinking about her.


	11. The Royal We

**11. The Royal We**

"Oh so you made it! Good." Steve says as he opens the front door. I hadn't even closed my car door yet and he's already greeting me. I guess he was waiting and he heard my car pull up in the drive way.

"Hey." I utter one word as I lock my car and turn to walk those few steps to the entry way of the house.

I contemplated avoiding this whole ordeal. I didn't want to face my mother. Or even my father. I'm sure mother will be difficult .Dad on the other hand won't. But facing my mother is more than enough to unnerve the calmest person.

"I was starting to believe you were going to ditch." He tells me once I reach the door.

"Thought about it." I confess. "But then I'll have to face it again. So I thought what the hell. Let's get it over with." With that I walk in and take off my jacket and hang it on the hangers closest to the door.

"Gail." No mistaking that that's my mother's voice. As I follow it, I find her standing by the entry way of the living room.

"Hey mom." I try at a gentle almost warm greeting.

"You're late." Here we go. She was bound to start criticizing me sometime tonight. Never thought she'd start right after 'Hello'.

"Traffic." I say with emphasize on the word. Trying to make it sound sarcastic. She may try to bring me down soon, make me fall back into her power. Have her control me once again. But I refuse to give her that power again.

"Well next time leave a little earlier. Avoid traffic." She says in her usual unemotional tone. "Your father's waiting for you in the living room. You should go greet him while dinner gets placed on the dining table.

"Right." I agree, and with that I walk past her. I was right not to expect the mother I saw when she came to the station a few days ago. That woman doesn't show up very often. God, no wonder I'm messed up and hate feelings. I was never taught how to deal with them, that's why.

It's best I ignore her jabs at me. I'm sure she's got so many waiting to be said. So before she can continue with them I make my way into the living room, getting my self mentally ready to greet my father, whom I haven't seen or contacted in over five years.

When I walk in, he's standing up. Too shaky to sit down I guess. And to my surprise Traci and I'm guessing _Leo_ are sitting on the opposite couch.

"Hey dad." I greet him as I stand in front of him, keeping my distance.

"Hey." He says as he moves closer, closing the distance I left between us and giving me a hug. "Welcome back."

"Thanks." I raise my hand awkwardly to return the hug.

Once released I make my way towards Traci, knowing well that my father's eyes are following me, and probably also my mother's eyes.

"Hey." I say once I reach Traci.

"Gail." She says standing up. She then pats Leo on the shoulder. "This is my son Leo." She introduces.

I give her this confused look. I thought we agreed not to bring Leo into this, at least not tonight. I could tell she understood what I meant with that look and she just indicates towards my mother with her eyes, in a very discreet way. I should've known. The only response I could give was pursing my lips and biting my tongue. She made sure Leo would be here so that I wouldn't fight her. A kid around meant I'd be on my best behavior. She knows I refuse to slip up and badly influence a kid. This dinner is gonna be worse than I thought now.

But to shake it off I decide to greet the kid. A kid around could also mean a little lightness in the air. It can't be too annoying with someone to light up the mood. So I crouch down to be same level as him.

"Hey little man." I greet as I give him my hand to shake.

"Hey." He answers cutely. I'm guessing he must be nine or ten.

"I'm Gail. Steve's sister." I say indicating to Steve with my head.

"I know. Steve told me about you." He smiles towards me then at Steve.

"Oh he did?" I was a little surprised. Not at the fact that Steve would mention me, but at the fact that he'd mention me to a kid.

"Yeah. He says you're the only one who always beats him in video games." Oh, that's why.

"Tell you what. Next time we'll team up and beat him together." I promise him and he simply smiles at me.

"Shall we sit at the table?" My mother asks interrupting my moment of bonding with the kid. She then walks out of the room towards the dining room expecting us to follow her. And my dad does.

"Sit next to me?" I ask Leo. "The grown ups scare me." I confess and he chuckles.

"But you're on of them." He reminds me.

"Only on the outside." I tell him with a serious face. "But in real I'm a kid."

"True. Still an obnoxious teenager." Steve quips in.

"Takes one to know one." I shoot back and he just squints his eyes at me. "But just because of that, you can't sit with us."

"Whatever you say Gretchen." Steve answers.

"Seriously? You're an idiot." I can't believe he took my answer as a 'Mean Girls' quote. the Idiot.

"I agree to that." Traci says as she laughs and pats Leo on his back and then indicating that we should go to the dining room. Steve then makes his way towards Leo and leads him there.

"She made sure he'd be here. I couldn't say no." Traci says with an apologetic tone.

"Yeah I should've known. He's her weapon against me." I confess to her. "With him here, she'll have her way because she knows I won't fight her."

"Sorry." She apologizes.

"Don't worry about it. It still means she can't fight too heavily." I reassure her as I give her a wink and make my way towards the dining room.

We take our seats at the table and I get what I asked for, I get Leo sitting next to me. I also get Steve to sit on my other side. My father fills our glasses with our requested drinks, and then my mother finishes placing the food, which I'm sure she ordered in, on the table.

The first half of dinner is filled with light conversation. Conversation where Leo tells us about his day in school, where Traci reminds us of the stupid call we got today about a fake bomb thread, where Steve reminds Leo about a hockey game coming up and asks if I want to go with them. Where dad tells some story about one of his inspector friends, where I barely participate. And I notice that I'm not the only one doing that. My mother only jumps in when needed. But during most of the time that passed she'd been eating and eyeing me. But it won't last.

Once we reach half our meal. I was sure things were about to change. The conversation will turn.

"Bill." She turns towards my dad once he finishes telling some story. "I ran into Turner today. He sends his 'hellos'." She tells him. I'm guessing Turner most be some big shot guy in the police force.

"His son is back in town." She adds and she turns towards me then. Here we go. Here it comes.

"Oh good. How's he?" I could tell my dad was very uninterested in this Weston guy.

"He's good. And I hear he's single." She adds. Oh no. Not happening. I just came back and she's already trying to control everything. Trying to be controlling without even asking how my life while I was away was.

"Not happening mother." I let her know I caught on and that she won't get her way.

"I said nothing." She shrugs. "But he is from good family. Handsome boy, just finished his PHD in England. He's single, you're single, good match." She adds and looks at me pointedly as if saying she has a point and I need to see it and go with it.

"And you know I'm single how? You've barely even asked me about my life." I remind her. She can't just make assumptions.

"Well are you or are you not?" She's relentless.

"I am. But that doesn't mean I need you to set me up with boys you think are cute and good for your reputation." She's not getting her way. I refuse.

"Won't hurt you to meet him." She persists.

"Let me guess. His father has some big police position." Only reason she'd persist on a guy.

"He's her boss." Steve answers me and she turns a simple glare his way.

"Right, well I'm not going to follow your needs for me to marry some high name in policing. I don't need you to play matchmaker." I may have let her set me up with guys she found fitting before I rebelled and settled for Nick, but it's not happening now.

"So you can end up with some unworthy man? Like that Nick who made you leave?" She spits out.

"That man, Nick. Even though he left me, he left to serve in the army." I never thought I'd defend Nick, but here I was doing just that. "He left to fight for his country and put his life in danger. More danger than we face in our own jobs. So no matter how low you think of him, or how much I don't like him now, he's still a good man." Can't deny that he is a good person, and him leaving was best for us both. I wasn't thinking clearly and we would have definitely regretted our choice of marriage had it happened. "Besides, who I end up with is my choice, not yours."

"Well…" She starts but gets cut off.

"Mother, have the higher ups got anything on the three lined tattooed victims?" Steve interrupts and saves me from a fight with my mother. A fight I was sure would be a mistake to have in front of Leo.

"What Victims?" On the mention of a case she immediately turns her attention to Steve. He may have saved me from a fight but he picked the wrong subject.

"The ones the higher ups took off our hands." He adds and she still looks at him confused.

Weren't we supposed to stay quiet about this case? What did sergeant Best say? Right. "Looking further into this case will lead to dismissal".

"Steve, we're not supposed to look into this anymore." Traci reminds him. "And we can't discuss this now." She adds looking at Leo.

Right, discussing murder cases in front of kids, not a good idea.

"Right." Steve remembers and nods while my mother still gives him confused looks. Since our department took over the case, my mother would've never heard of it. Leo however at that moment says he finished his food and excuses himself to go wash his hands.

"I gotta ask something though. How did you know the cause Gail?" He asks as he looks at me with a smile. I know what he's doing. He thinks if mom knows that I caught the cause of death immediately she'd be proud. Idiot.

"What cause?" I play dumb.

"I heard you knew the cause of death just by looking at the body." He says proudly.

"Sam." I utter out his name. He must have told Steve.

"Yep, he mentioned it. He was impressed." He confirms. "So how'd you know the guy was poisoned?" He pushes.

"Right. Skin color." I answer shortly and hastily.

"You knew the cause of death before the pathologist?" My dad asks incredulously and I simply give him a confirming look. "So you went away for five years, got a college degree, ended up top at the academy, and made detective in a really short time. And got yourself some medical knowledge. I'm impressed kid." I could tell he truly was, because the smile he was giving me was true. I wasn't impressed though because he was impressed with lies. "But I'm glad you're back. Kind of missed you." He adds with a smile and I know he did miss me. I've always been closer to my dad than my mom. He kind of got me and never pushed me.

"Missed you too dad." I tell him warmly.

"You could've done all that here Gail." And here goes the moment, ruined by my mother.

"Maybe." I refuse to give her a yes or no answer.

"But I'm not surprised, you are a Peck. And my daughter. Of course you'd get to your position fast." She adds with a semi proud smile, but I'm sure the proud smile wasn't for the fact that I made it here, but the fact that I'm a Peck and her daughter, so the good I do is good for the name and for her.

"Being a Peck had nothing to do with this mother. I was in Vancouver. You don't have that much power there." I remind her. I refuse for her to make my accomplishments, even if fake, meaningless and based on a name. She can't disguise their importance with a name. "If you did, you would've known I was there this whole time." Which is true, if she had as much power as she believes she did, she would've found me.

She doesn't answer right away. She takes a moment.

"Well, you did run away. A good police officer doesn't run from things, they face them." Right. She had to come to that. Me running away, which doesn't make me good enough.

"I came back to face it didn't I?" I try to disguise her witty remark as unimportant.

"So you came back for him? Even though he left you?" She took it wrong. So I came back to face Nick? She thinks I ran from him?

"No, I'm sitting here with you. I didn't run from Nick mother. I knew I wouldn't face him when I came back. He had already left to join the army." I then place my fork on the plate and lift my napkin to the table, getting ready to make my escape once I say my last remark, because I refuse to see her face when I speak those words. "I ran away from you. I didn't want to face you, and your judging face and cutting words. Because I knew, that if I made it back, you won't be the concerned mother who's daughter just got her heart completely broken, but you'd be the superintendent Peck who's daughter almost married someone you disapproved of, and you would scold me for almost embarrassing you, instead of helping me get through the hurt I was feeling. So I ran to heal and not have you add to it." With that I grab my plate and get up to make my way towards the kitchen. Thankfully Leo shows up and my mother remains silent.

Once in the kitchen I place my plate in the sink and hold the counter for support.

"You okay?" Traci's voice asks behind me.

"Yeah. Five years away, kind of forgot how intense my mother was." I answer her and she chuckles.

"You did good out there." She reassures me and I know then at that moment that Steve did good. That he's found someone really good for him.

"Thanks." I turn around to give her a smile.

"Well, the men are going to join Leo in the living room. Go join them. I'll help your mother clear the table. I'm sure you can use a few minutes free of her." She tells me with another chuckle. Did I mention I liked her? Yeah, Steve did good.

"Are you sure you want to spend a few minutes alone with my mother?" I ask to be sure.

"I can handle her. Don't worry." She gives me that motherly smile and I can't help but give her one in return.

"Thank you." I say gratefully as I make my way towards the living room.

I find an empty seat next to Leo on the couch and I take it. He seems to be busy with a phone while Steve and my dad are watching some game on TV.

"Hey kid. Whatcha doing?" I ask him as I peer at the phone.

"Steve has this cool game on his phone that I like to play." He answers me without looking up from his game.

"Mind if I watch you play? More interesting that the TV." I tell him and Steve just looks at me with a weird smile.

"I don't mind." He answers engrossed in his game. It looks like he's driving a car. Really crazily at that.

"Is that Crazy Taxi?" I ask him incredulously. We used to play that game as kids. Steve and I got so competitive.

"Yes." Leo confirms as he keeps playing.

I guess these few minutes aren't so bad. No mother, and watching a kid play a cool game. I guess this doesn't make my night completely a disaster.

A phone beeping catches my attention. It's my phone. A text message.

_Hey Officer. X-men is on TV. Just thought I'd let you know, since you're a nerd when it comes to that apparently. _

My face immediately lights up with a smile. Holly. I guess my night isn't bad at all after all.

"Anyone interesting texting you?" Steve asks cheekily.

"Shut up." I answer back.

"Hot doctor by any chance?" He winks and I throw a pillow at him.

"Idiot." I murmur at him.

_Says the one who's watching it. I'm watching far more interesting things. _I text back.

_Oh is Superman on TV?_ She answers back. How does she know I love my superheroes? Or is she just playing?

_Nah, I'm watching some crazy taxi driver getting his customer places for money. _I answer vaguely.

_? _

Really? that's her answer? A question mark?

_Traci's kid is playing Crazy Taxi._ I clarify to her.

_Oh, haven't played that game since I was a kid. Anyways, I'll leave you to that. I'll just get back to watching the movie. _So she just randomly texted to tell me X-Men was on TV? I knew my previous comment about Professor X will reveal my nerd side and she'll be taking advantage.

_Whatever, what channel? _I give in and ask. Maybe I can convince the boys to watch it. Kids like X-Men as well right?

_Crazy drivers not as interesting? _She teases and texts the channel.

_Not nearly as much. _I put my phone down with that.

"Hey Steve, Change the channel." I tell him what channel to go to and he just looks at me weirdly.

"What? X-Men is on TV?" I justify my choice of channel and he and dad laugh at me then.

"Still a nerd?" Steve asks bemused.

"Whatever." I answer him.

"And who told you it's on TV?" He asks with raised eyebrow and a teasing tone.

"None of your business." I dismiss him as my phone beeps.

_See you around then. Good night officer. _ So our banter is done? Awww, I was enjoying it.

_Goodnight Lunchbox. _I text and put my phone away, smile still in place.

"Don't let that smile blind you from watching the movie." Steve continues his teasing and I refuse to give him ammo to continue it. I simply ignore him and watch the movie and Leo puts his game away to watch too.

I guess I can handle my mother now. I'll just think of those texts from Holly and be reminded that my mother has no power over me.


	12. Thing For You

**12. Thing For You**

"Marcus. We're not staying, I have to leave soon." We're sitting in my 'Basement' doing some small research.

"Right. The Penny." He remembers and shuts down his screen.

"Yeah, today happened to be one of those days where they all kind of had the same shift. So they're going for a drink." I make sure to shut down every computer screen.

"But he's going to be there right?" He asks and I know who he means.

"Yes he said he would be." I'm sure James or Jameson will be at the gathering at the Penny.

"Can you wear a body cam?" He asks jokingly. "I'd love to see you shut him down again."

"No." I deliver a nice smack to his shoulder as I decline.

"Fun ruiner." He mumbles.

"Come on. We were _just_ discussing this with Stevens. This is not funny, it's dangerous." The fact that James hasn't stopped trying to get with me is kind of freaking me out. "And he plays his part so well that he's got me believing at times that we've got the wrong guy."

"But he is our guy." He reminds me. "No matter how good he acts, it's him."

"I know." I sigh.

"Are you sure about Saturday's barbecue thing?" He then asks with worry.

I finished my shift early today and everyone that I've become friends with has finished sometime ago. They decided to meet up for drinks when they all finish. So since I finished before half of them I made sure to come home, shower and have a meeting with Marcus and Caroline (Stevens). We agreed that it's best that I get everyone including Jameson in one gathering and on my turf. If I invite them all for a barbecue or something similar at my house then if Jameson had any doubts about who I might be, he'd lose them when he sees how normal the house is and I'd get to interact with him where a crowd is present. I could observe his interactions with others and learn about him. Even though he will be in the crowd at the Penny it won't be the same. Because it'll be loud and he'll be interested in drinking and trying to talk to me alone.

It's been five days since the dinner at my parent's house. And during those five days Jameson has been relentless. I'm sure he's hinted at his interest more than twice a day and he probably asked me out, once, I think. I seriously need to find a way to get him off my back before he decides to research into me and before he figures out anything that he shouldn't know.

I thought the smiles I directed at my phone and the excessive texting I may have done in his presence might waver his interest but it didn't. I'm sure they were pretty convincing too, since they were real smiles and real interest. I've shown my phone more interest than Jameson has ever got, and yet he thinks he's got a shot. Not even close.

I keep my phone glued to me at all times now. How else will I be connected to Holly? I haven't seen her in five days, and yet we text everyday. A lot of times during the day. God! I feel like a teenager whenever we text. I mean we only met a few days ago. I barely know her. And yet here I am, texting her none stop. We've had busy schedules these past few days. So our phones were our only link. Also, I was too scared to get her more involved in my life, so I didn't really ask much about whether or not she has free time, maybe for lunch. But even though I was scared to let her in too much, I couldn't stop contacting her.

"Yes! Stevens agrees." I answer Marcus's question. "I need this. I need to get him off my back. I need to get information on him. I need to mislead him on who I am. This needs to happen."

"So you're inviting everyone, all the new buddies you made?" He asks interested.

"Yes. The house will be filled with cops and detectives and white shirts." I mean Sergeant Best will be coming right?

Marcus just gives me a teasing smile. "And a forensic Pathologist?"

Holly. Should I invite Holly? I mean she's friends with everyone right? And it's an excuse to see her, it is a social gathering after all.

"Maybe." I answer vaguely.

"Hey, you can stick to your hot pathologist and Jameson will back off. I mean he can't push you if you're into someone else right?" He looks proud of his suggestion.

"Maybe. But still. I'm not sure it's a good idea to drag anyone into this." I wanted to tell him I might just do that, because I want to do that, but I hesitate.

"They'll be perfectly safe. You said it yourself, you're surrounded by cops, by people who will have your back when needed." He reminds me. "Come on Sawyer. You can't be cold hearted. I'm sure there's a love sick puppy in there wanting to go out." He points at my chest.

"Don't say love sick." I warn. "It's lame and makes you sound like an idiot. And in no way am I a puppy."

"You are cute though." He shrugs playfully and I just narrow my eyes at him.

"Say that again and you will lose an eye." I threaten.

"Whatever, just invite _her_." He seems to insist on me having a love life. Why can't he focus on his own? Wait. He said her. I didn't mention that to him. I always ignore the subject when he brings it up. How'd he know it was a _her._

"Go get your own her. And get off my case with mine." I glare at him and his consistent annoyance.

"Yeah, not easy for me to have a her. You on the other hand can. So I can live vicariously through you now." He smiles triumphantly at my slip up of confirming his speculations of the gender of the pathologist.

"Why can't you?" Why is it fair for him to push me to find someone and he won't do that himself?

"I'm CIA. Your department is less strict than ours." He gets his serious face as he explains. "You can leave if you wanted, you can tell people who you are if they can be trusted. I on the other hand can't get out without a reason, and I can't tell anybody. The perks of being American, the nation with so many enemies."

"Right. Sorry." He has a point, if he ever decides to date someone, who's not his partner, she will be in grave danger, even the government is a danger to her then. And if he happens to date his partner they will believe it'll influence their work and separate them. I guess he is only allowed one night stands and could've been.

"No worries. Now go before you're late, and learn about Jameson. I will head back to my place. I'm helping with the dead agent's case. Two of your agents just got in town three days ago. They've been informed who of your department is on mission here and are not affiliated with their case, so they'd know who to contact in case of emergencies." He informs me.

"Is there more than my name on that list?" I inquire. I'm sure there isn't many of my department in Toronto at this moment.

"Just a couple."

"Let's go then." I then shut off everything in the room as we make our way up and out the door.

"Call me later if you get any update." He says before he walks towards his own place and I get into my car to drive towards The Penny to meet everyone.

* * *

"Gail!" I enter The Penny and I am swamped by so many people. It seems that everyone from 15 who didn't have the night shift was there. The second I walk in I get greeted by Chris who had just gotten some drinks.

"Hey Chris." I greet back as I make my way towards the bar. I'll need to have my drink first if I'll be dealing with so many people at once.

Once I have my jack and coke, I make my way to the overcrowded table where Traci and Steve are sitting. The group seems to have gotten some tables next to each other. I spot Andy and Sam sitting close by, I also spot Chris and Dov on one end of the table, with Chloe close to Dov. I also see Oliver next to Sam and Nick opposite him. Ian seems to be sitting at one end of the table, opposite my brother and Traci's end. And it seems that the only empty seat is next to 'Ian'. So I just grab an empty chair from a neighboring table and shove it in the space between Traci and Andy, since it happens to be on the other side of the table, far away from where Ian is sitting.

"Hey Gail." Traci greets and I don't verbally answer, I just nod.

"Don't want to sit next to Ian there?" She nods towards the empty chair bemused.

"Is it that obvious?" I ask sarcastically.

"Oh come on! Why not?" Andy exclaims from my other side and I direct my death glare towards her.

"Do I need a reason?" I throw through gritted teeth.

"Kind of?" I'm guessing she is very unsure of her answer once she fully meets my glare. And that's when it clicks.

All those times I got left alone in a room with Officer James. How suddenly, when he and I are in the same room everyone tends to converse with each other to leave us to ourselves, how he always seems to be in need in every case I'd get, how now the only available chair was next to him. Someone's orchestrating this. I should be ecstatic, their helping my job get easier. But they're really not. Because all those times I could've learned something about him, he just spent it watching me intently and hitting on me, killing any chance of a smart conversation that we could ever engage in. Also, he likes to avoid questions about himself. Or, any questions at all. Not when he can lear at me and make my skin crawl. Not when every look he gives me is either disturbing or knowing.

I need to get him to trust me before I can be his friend. I need to establish myself in this circle before I can start gathering information on him. We need to know how and why he's an officer. If he wasn't wearing that uniform, I'd have shot him long ago. Then mission over and I'd be done. But of course it had to get complicated and end up being a dragged job. And now the way everyone is trying to set us up is even making my job harder. If I can't kill him, then I need to steer clear till I can, otherwise, I'll get myself killed. But when they're oblivious to who the man really is, I can't blame them.

"Wait. Are you guys setting us up? Like is all this deliberate?" I leer at McNally and Nash.

"Hey, I have nothing to do with this." Traci defends.

"Oh you don't? And where do you stand?" I ask Andy then with my signature angry glare.

"I.. um…" She stutters and tries to avoid looking me in the eye.

"Listen carefully. Not. Going. To. Happen." I pronounce every word loudly hoping it sinks in. "So let it go, or else." I add the warning and Andy cowers back from me.

"What's going on?" Steve finally noticed the angry atmosphere.

"Gail found out everyone's been trying to set her up with Ian." Traci answers him in a low voice.

"Everyone?" I ask incredulously.

"Gail." Steve warns. He knows an outburst is about to happen.

"Everyone barely knows me. So I don't care if your friend over there has a sickening crush on me. He'll learn to suck it up and deal with the fact that it WON'T happen. Everyone needs to get off my back. I don't need people I barely know to tell me what I should want." I spit out as I exchange my glare from Andy to Traci.

"Hey like I said, I have nothing to do with this. Steve did warn them it was a futile attempt." Traci raises her hands in surrender as she defends herself and Steve.

"You knew and didn't think about warning them." I then direct my anger towards Steve.

"Come on Gail it's harmless." Steve reasons.

"Harmless? To encourage the guy to something that will never happen?" I ask him.

"Well, _never_ wasn't in the equation. I couldn't rule it out." He defends and I guess if he ever thought I might like Ian, he'd have wanted me to have a chance with him.

"Look I get that you guys want your friend to be happy and all, but it won't be with me, so don't bring his hopes up. I just got here, not up for anything like that now." I lose the angry voice and soften my glare a little.

"Or you might have a thing for someone else already." Steve teases and my glare is back full on.

"Don't make me dump my drink on you." I warn and he just smiles and turns towards Oliver who was on his other side.

"Sorry Gail. We just like you and he's a good guy, thought it would be a good fit." Andy apologizes.

"It's okay. As long as you drop it." I hope they do.

"Well if you have someone else, then of course they will." Traci teases me. I'm guessing Steve told her about his suspicions on my relationship with Holly. He's made a few comments on it the past few days. He must have told her that I like women as well. And even though at this moment I want to say something mean about her teasing comment, I can't. Traci and I have become close in the past few days. Steve did good for himself.

"Steve needs to be careful. I know where he lives." I say and she just chuckles.

"By the way." I remember I need to invite them to a barbecue on Saturday so I tap Steve on the arm to get his attention. "I'd like to invite everyone to a barbecue at my house on Saturday." I say loud enough for most people at the table to hear and I can see most of their heads nodding as their eyes meet mine.

"Everyone as in?" Steve asks.

"Everyone who can make it?" I tell him.

"Like a house warming party?" Andy asks.

"No, it's just, I was gone for a long time. I just want to spend time with my brother and his friends. Who I'd like to call my friends as well. Besides, I have a big backyard that I don't have much use for. So yes, everyone who you guys call friends. Yes, even Nick and Ian." I try to explain my reasons for the barbecue. "And you can bring Leo." I tell Traci and she just smiles.

"I'll tell the others. We'll be there." Steve informs me with a smile. "I'll even come early to help out. It's my day off too."

Before I could add anything else my phone vibrates in my pocket.

_I'm being dragged to The Penny. Save me! _Holly's coming here? And why does she need saving? Oh! Right! I didn't tell her I'd be here.

_How might I save you? _I ask.

_You finished early today right? Are you free to hang out? I could make you my alibi._ She explains.

Should I tell her I'm already here or let her suffer and just find out for herself?

_I wouldn't want to anger whoever is dragging you to The Penny. A few drains could do you good._ I text.

_Refusing my company officer?_ I guess when she puts it like that is sounds kind of mean.

_Maybe. Maybe not. _I answer her vaguely.

_Meaning? _

Should I tell her I'm already here?

_You'll find out soon enough ;) _Which is true she will. After I'm sure she's not texting back at that moment I put my phone back in my pocket.

_"_Inviting the hot doctor?" Steve leans over Traci and asks me in a low voice that only Traci and I can hear.

"Hot? Traci's right here Steve." I point towards his girlfriend.

"I meant how _you_ see it." He answers with a silly smile and I then refuse to answer him verbally, I just flip him off.

"I guess you did. Because your doctor just entered through the door." He says and nods towards the entrance and I couldn't help my head from whipping around fast enough to catch sight of her.

She's standing by the entrance in the middle of a guy and a girl. Her expression seems annoyed and bored. Her friends just tug her towards a table that happens to be close by to where we were and right in my line of view. She walks behind them towards the table of their choice and before she sits down, she spots me giving her a playful smile and her annoyed expression turns to surprise then she returns my playful smile. She just sits down and takes out her phone. And then I feel my phone vibrate.

_You're mean. _She texted me and I just look up to meet her eyes and my playful smile widens and I just shrug at her.

"You can go over there if you want." Traci whispers to me with a nudge.

"Where?" I try to act dumb.

"Those smiles aren't fooling me Gail." She keeps the low voice so only I can hear.

"Whatever you say Traci." I wave her comment off and she just raises her eyebrows at me.

I turn my attention back to Holly and she's standing up, going towards the bar.

"I need a refill." I say lamely, even though my glass isn't empty yet.

"Your glass is still full Gail." Traci reasons and I just gulp what's left of my drink and I wince at the slight burn in my throat.

"Yeah, well now it's empty." And with that I stand up and ignore the chuckle Traci throws my way.

"You know, you can stay seated and I'll buy you a drink." I was walking with my eyes fixed on Holly that I missed Ian standing in front of me trying to grab my attention.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good getting it on my own." I tell him and wait for him to move so that I could keep walking towards my target.

"I insist." He pushes.

"I don't care what you insist on." I let the mean exasperated Gail come out. Maybe Marcus was right, I need to divert his attention. "Besides, I was about to go insist on buying someone else a drink." I add a smirk to that. "So if you'll excuse me." I don't wait for him to reply, I simply push my way around him and walk towards Holly who seems to have _just_ gotten the bartender's attention.

Once I reach the bar and stand next to where she's standing I don't acknowledge her. As the bartender hands her the drinks I order.

"I'll have a beer." I tell the bartender and I could feel Holly's head turn towards my voice.

"You know, you could've just told me you were here." She scolds me for my texts.

"Seemed fun to have you be tortured longer." I shrug.

"Fun? I wouldn't have objected to coming if I knew you were here." She admits and I could feel a small smile building up. I could feel the honesty in her words.

"Why didn't you want to come in the first place?" I wonder.

"Because those two over there are trying to set me up with somebody, for the second time, and I didn't feel like listening to them talk about her all night." She answers with an eye roll and a sigh.

"Sounds like you don't like the set up girl." I note as I get handed my drink and pay for it.

"She's awful." When she says that I can't help but chuckle.

"Coming from you, it must be true." I tell her and then nod towards her table. "You better get those drinks to them, they're waiting."

"Right." She says and the worry on her face shows so before she could walk back towards her table I place my hand on her wrist.

"And once you hand them their drinks, come find me. I'll grab us a table." I tell her with a wink.

"And why would you leave your friends to hang with me?" She questions with amusement and raised eyebrows.

"I do recall you asking to be saved. I'm a detective. It's my job to save people." I say mater of factly.

"Is that your only reason for saving me?" She then gives me her lopsided grin and I can't help but smile back.

"Well, I got an officer I need to escape from, so win win both ways." I then grab my beer and start to walk away. "And hurry up." I add before making my way towards and empty table far from both groups, hers and mine.

"Peck. I hear there's a barbecue at your place!" Oliver catches me on the way to the table.

"Yes. Steve will text you all the address." I inform him.

"Cool, cool. I'll be there. Free food." Oliver tells me with a nod and a smile.

"And booze." I add.

"You might just be my favorite detective now." He confesses in a low voice.

"Shhhh… Don't let Sam hear you say that." I warn lifting my index finger to my lips.

"Oh! Right!" He says and looks towards Sam's direction to make sure he's far.

"Bring Celery? I got the name right, right?" I was told by Traci that Oliver's dating someone, she only mentioned her name once, so I hope I got it right. It's my job to remember things though.

"Yes. You did. And I will." He smiles.

"Oh and the kids if you want." I add. Maybe he'd like to bring his family. I wouldn't mind. He'd get to spend time with them, and I get more people in the house to distract everyone while I make sure James will never be suspicious of me.

"I will have to see about that." He says and then points towards the bar and walks away. After that, I continue my journey towards the table.

When I look over towards Holly and her friends I see them frowning and pleading with her to stay with them and I see her shake her head and look my way. Then the girl she's with turns my direction and eyes me over. I simply lift my eyebrows in question and she turns away. I just sip my drink and wait for Holly to join me.

A minute later Holly joins me at the table with her drink in hand.

"Hi." She greets as if we didn't already get through that before.

"Hi." I greet back. "They seemed reluctant to let you go."

"Oh, apparently they invited that girl I was telling you about to come here now." She tells me with a sheepish look.

"Now? This was a set up?" I ask and laugh at that.

"Yep."

"It's rude then to hog you. You got a date to get to." I tease her.

"Nah, I'm sure she won't mind being stood up." She waves her hand as if it's no big deal.

"You're here. So I don't think it's a standing someone up thing. It's just rude to ignore your date." I add to annoy her.

"Oh God. Stop. Please." She begs and I just chuckle.

"Meh, might be worth it. The disappointed look on her face when she comes in, oh and if she tries to talk to you. Icing on the cake, when you turn her down." I smile sadistically then.

"And why would you enjoy that?" She asks curiously eyeing me. Oh, she thinks it would be fun cause I'm jealous.

"I like when people get embarrassed. It feeds this weird part of me." I answer her honestly.

"_One_ weird part? You're insane. And completely weird." Holly says and sips her drink.

"I'll take that as a compliment." I shrug. "What'd you tell them anyways? To leave them and come here?" I was curious then. If they were setting her up at the moment, it wouldn't have been easy to let her go.

"I just told them I wasn't interested in that girl, and that I'd rather hang out with someone more interesting." She answers.

"Oh, I interest you then?" I ask.

"I just said it so they'd let me go. I didn't feel like explaining that I just didn't want to hang with the girl." She shrugs to emphasis her uncaring.

"So you're just using me?"

"You seemed like a good choice for escape." She still uses that same matter of fact tone. Then her attention was taken by a girl who walks through the door and walks towards her friends's table. The girl was tall, brown hair and fair skin.

"Is that her?" I ask pointing with my head towards the table.

"Yes."

"I don't see why you're complaining. She's not too bad." The girl is kinda pretty, I don't see why she'd complain being set up with her.

"Physically. But just get her talking and you'll see." She complains.

"Well then. Maybe I should. Just to see what you mean." And before I could wave towards their table Holly reaches across and grabs my arm and pulls it back down.

"No. Trust me you don't want that." She tells me and keeps a hold of my hand.

"Well you're using me, I don't like being used. It's a good way of torture. Call her here and leave you with her."I say. I know very well she was joking about using me but I couldn't help torturing her.

"Fine, I lied. I do find you interesting. I'd rather hang out with you now, than with any of those three at that table. And that's saying a lot, considering I've been friends with those two for a while." She admits and I give her a victory smile.

"Okay, when you put it like that, I won't call your date over." I assure her and she smiles, but doesn't let go of my hand. Somehow I find that refreshing and I don't mind keeping contact with her. Alas, I didn't need to call her over, because from the corner of my eye I see her coming our way. Holly doesn't seem to notice that though.

"Shit. She's coming our way anyways." I inform Holly and she stiffens but doesn't let go of my hand.

"Holly, Hi." The girl greets with a cheery voice.

"Hi." Holly answers flatly barely looking at her.

"How've you been?" She asks Holly and then glances my way.

"Good." Holly really seems annoyed by that.

"So haven't seen you in a while." The girl states and then I see her eyes leering at Holly's body, checking her out and Holly notices. I could see how uncomfortable she was getting and then the hand holding mine twitches.

"Guess you haven't." Holly answers. God! Can't the dense girl get a hint? Holly is so brushing her off.

"Can we, maybe, hang out?" The stupid girl asks and then gives me a glare when she glances my way so before Holly answers I jump in.

"No you can't. She's busy." I say and squeeze Holly's hand.

"I was asking her." She informs me with a not so sweet smile.

"Well, you're interrupting us. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're sitting here alone, holding hands. That's gotta say something." I add and nod towards our joined hands for emphasis.

"Holly, I'm sure you can still ditch the fake blond and hang with me." The bitch says and lays a hand on Holly's shoulder. Holly immediately stiffens more than she already was and I could see her jaw clench.

"If you like that hand to stay attached to your body, I suggest you remove it from her shoulder and step away." I warn her with a clenched jaw and a glare.

"So what do you say Holly?" She ignores my warning and keeps asking Holly questions. Holly's grip on my hand tightens. And once again before Holly answers I let the bad side of me take over and I interrupt her as I stand up and face the ignorant pushy bitch.

"Listen carefully. You are going to remove your hand and walk back to that table or I will lock you up and make sure you are not allowed to come within five miles of Holly." I hope she takes my warning, because I'm still keeping the nice side of Gail for now.

"And how would you do that?" She leers at me.

"You're in a bar full of cops and detectives. What makes you think I'm not one?" I ask her and wait for it to sink in and for her to walk away.

"You're on a date with a blue collar? Come on Holly, leave the bitch and let's go somewhere." She insists and that does it I just grab her hand off of Holly's shoulder and push it towards her. If I held it longer I'd have broken it.

"You know what. Screw putting you in cuffs. I'm sure a blue eye, some bruises and broken ribs would go nice with your complexion." I warn with a stance ready to attack and before I can do anything else Holly's hand is on my wrist.

"Gail." She says in a soft voice and my body relaxes a bit. "It's okay" She tells me once my eyes meet hers. She then stands up and meets the bitch.

"Ellie. Just leave." She says calmly and yet sternly.

"Oh come on." The idiot still insists.

"What's going on?" I guess Steve noticed since her showed up concerned and asking questions.

"Go back to your table Steve." I tell him, keeping my glare at Ellie.

"Gail?" He asks and stands next to me.

"Ellie, just go. You don't want trouble, trust me." Holly says hoping to avoid trouble.

"Whatever." The pushy bitch says and walks away.

"What was that?" Steve asks once she's gone.

"She was seconds away from getting a body rearrangement." I spit out and Steve just raises his eye brows at me.

"Should I be worried?" My brother seems to want to know what the situation is.

"No." I exhale and relax. "All's fine. Don't worry." I assure him then and he seems to trust that.

"Okay." He then glances towards Holly's hand, which then I noticed was still on my wrist. He smiles and walks back towards Traci. Idiot.

Once Holly and I take back our seats I let curiosity take over me.

"So when you said awful, how awful did you mean?" I ask.

"Like the kind of awful that keeps trying to feel you up and keeps making very disturbing remarks. The kind that follows you into the bathroom and tries to have her way with you, the kind that treats you like property. When you've only known each other for thirty minutes." She tells me and then glares towards the table when the girl seems to be seated.

"They set you up with _that?" _I find it weird that people who consider themselves her friends would do that to her. I mean why would they set her up with someone like that if they cared about her?

"I doubt they know she's like that. I didn't exactly tell them why I bailed on the date early." She then looks down towards her drink and picks it up to drink and I do the same.

"Well I get why I'm more interesting than her then." I try to lighten the mood.

"Yes, I mean how many people would fake a date for me so I can get away from a psycho?" She muses and I just smile at her.

"I'm sure you'd have to keep the charade to your friends then. Otherwise she'd know we were lying." I say.

"Right. Good point." She agrees and smiles. "I'm bad at lying though."

"That's too bad for you."

"You're no help." She says.

"Well, It's a shame it's not real then. Would've been easier for you." She looks me in the eyes when I say that.

"Yes, then it wouldn't be a lie." She agrees.

"Careful. If you wish for that, I might get it in my head that you have a thing for me." I keep my gaze locked on hers and she just blushes at my words.

"You flatter yourself too much." And with that she looks away from my gaze.

"Maybe I do." I say and go back to my drink.

"You know, Officer James doesn't seem too happy that I stole you from his table." I guess when she looked away from my gaze she turned towards the cops table. When I follow her line of vision, Ian is indeed looking at our table.

"He'll live." It's good. He'll get it in his head that I like Holly and he'll back off on hitting on me. Maybe I should have Holly at the barbecue. It'll be more bearable for me, and a good way to keep Ian at the required distance as well.

"By the way. I'm having a barbecue on Saturday. You should come." I invite her.

"And who will be there?" She asks.

"Oh, some cops and detectives. I'm sure you know all of them."

"And you want me there? What would a pathologist be doing with a group of cops?" She teases and I just smile.

"You're good company." I confess to her and she smiles at me. "And I want you there."

"Careful, now I might be the one to believe that you have a thing for me." She warns me playfully.

"Maybe I do." I tell her and before she responds I just leave towards the bar to get some drink refills, leaving Holly behind to ponder my confession.


	13. Maybe You're Right

**Thank you so much for all your great reviews.**

**I apologize for the update being later than usual. I had a bit of a busy two weeks. But I hope this chapter makes it worth it.**

**13. Maybe You're Right**

"So Gail. All set? alcohol, food, drinks, tables, everything?" Steve was true to his words. He did come in early to help me set up. It worked well for both of us considering we both had today off. I also happen to have tomorrow off.

He came by around noon, I guess he remembers that I hate to be waken up in the morning. I did wake up in the morning though. Had a talk with my superior and with Marcus. The cameras in the house will be activated by my phone according to what I see fit. I activate whichever camera I may think is needed. Especially if Jameson goes into a room by himself or takes a phone call. Then I activate the camera of whichever room he's in. The cameras are completely hidden so he won't be able to detect them.

I am supposed to socialize with everyone, making sure Jameson is in the group. Lead him off of his infatuation with me. Learn things about his cover up story from him and everyone else. Show him that my house in normal and that I am not anything other than a detective. Do one big clumsy act that will show him that I am not well balanced to be a danger to him.

Marcus wants me to injure myself. If the '_hot pathologist'_ is coming, I should get injured so that she would stitch me up. _'it would be so romantic'. _The idiot.

"All set Steve. The food is ready to be grilled as soon as people show up." I confirm to him as I grab a beer bottle for myself and one for him. I had set up everything outside. The weather seemed nice today for october in Canada. And the backyard was big enough to fit everyone I guess.

"You got a nice play sis." Steve tells me as he grabs the beer off my hands and sips it.

"Yeah, I thought what the Hell. Put my money to use." I shrug at his comment.

"Seriously. I may have not said it, but I am proud of you." He says with a smile and somehow that makes me wary.

"Oh no, no no no. I left for five years with no word. Stick to that. No proud of me shit. You're supposed to still be mad. So be mad." I Ramble on. It was easier when he was still a little upset with me. I am going to hurt him again, and it would be a bit easier if he was mad at me already. Now it will break him more.

"I am still mad. But I am also proud. I can do both." Steve defends. "You left for five years but you put them to good use. You cleaned up your act, you went to college, you went to the academy, you made detective. And Gail, you did it all by yourself. So yeah, I get to be the proud big brother here." He then clinks his bottle with mine. "So deal with it."

"You stink." I give him a silly answer. What else to say? I am mad, but his words kind of make me feel good. Even if all he knows is a lie. I'm sure the if he knew the truth, it would still be the same. I did work hard for this. I mean, I didn't just get the job handed to me. I wasn't even thinking about applying for such a job. I just happened to be there when a band thing happened. I let my Peck instincts take over, and I caught the bad guy. It so happens that it wasn't the police that was after him, but the spy agency. I was offered a place, a test, and I took it. Once I proved myself, I was given every mission, and I did it all very well. My job is too dangerous but it pays well, and I managed to invest the right way. I'm sure mom would like that fact. She would hate the secrecy part of it though. What's the point of having a great job? Saving the day? And being rich? If you can't tell the world about it? If you can't show off about it? If you can't have people respect you or fear you because of it?

"So Traci will be here soon. She just finished her shift." Steve lets me know as he makes his way towards a chair and takes a seat. I follow him and sit close by.

"She bringing the little guy?" I ask him.

"Yep. He's coming. He misses his favorite gaming partner." A chuckle leaves his lips and he just shakes his head in amusement. "You know, we haven't played video games in a long time."

"Yeah, I used beat your ass every single time." I say as I laugh at the memory.

"Only because I let you." He scoffs and sips his beer.

"Oh sure. Use your excuses. You know, I have a console set up, finish your beer and it's Game On!" I challenge him and he just smiles. "We can have a couple of games before people start showing up."

"How many people are coming again? Everyone at 15 or half?" He asks me.

"I don't know. I invited who I wanted. You guys did the rest. So I set up to be prepared for the masses." I say as I look around me to the huge amount of alcohol and food.

"So it's all cops and detectives and white shirts? Wait. Are mom and dad coming?" Steve looks at me for answers.

"If they were, I'm sure you'd know. I already called them. Just so mom wouldn't throw a fit for being left out. They can't make it today. Something about a city lunch thing." And that's a good thing too. If they were here, things would have been harder. "And yes, it's mostly gonna be cops, detectives and one white shirt."

"Mostly? As in there will be someone who's not a cop?" He caught on to my words and he gives me that amused knowing look with raised eye brows.

"Maybe." I answer vaguely and busy myself with my beer.

"Maybe? As in yes? Is she coming?" He asks knowingly.

"Who?" I play dumb and he doesn't buy it. He just gives me an expectant look and waits for me to relent. "Fine, yes, she is."

"You've only just got back and you've already met somebody. Not that I'm surprised. You were the always a heartbreaker." He muses.

"Were. Until I got heart broken. Besides, it's not even like that, we're just friends." I defend my relationship with Holly. We've only known each other a week, barely even. If you don't count the first time we met by bumping into each other. And yet, even I know that friends doesn't even fit this.

"Yeah, friends." He scoffs at that. "You're gonna have to do better than that. I see those looks you guys share. You kind of like her." He concludes and gives me a smug smile.

"Well yeah, otherwise we wouldn't be friends." I state.

"For now. Even I see where this is headed. Holly's gay Gail. And you're… Well you just don't care. She's a good person. She could be good for you." He tells me seriously as he finishes his beer and I just give him a warm small smile. He doesn't push the subject more. He just settles for that statement. I may have left for five years, but he knows that talking about feelings isn't my best quality.

"Maybe." I answer after a while and then I just throw away my empty beer. "Now let's go play some games. I miss beating you at things."

* * *

"Hey Gail." I hear a voice behind me and then small arms surround me as I turn around.

"Hey buddy. You made it." I greet Leo who releases me and steps back to stand next to Traci.

"Hey." Traci greets me and I greet her back.

"Nice place." She comments as she looks around. "And nice crowd." She adds once she really looks around and sees that almost half of 15 and all her friends were there.

"They're here for the food and alcohol. My presence is just a bonus." I say with a smile and Traci chuckles.

At around 5PM people started showing up. Half an hour later almost everyone was there and the food was in the making. Dov was standing by the grill with Chloe, who is still too perky for my likings. Next to him is Chris. And oliver who came with his girlfriend and his eldest daughter has made his way towards the alcohol. Everyone else was scattered around talking.

I made my round talking to everyone, until I sat down next to Steve who just found a chair and stuck to it. When James showed up I went over to chat with his group. Which consisted of Andy, Nick, Sam, and I think officer Brooks.

I'd barely been standing with them for a minute before Leo found me.

"Steve's over there." I tell Traci and point towards the chairs near the alcohol table.

"Of course he is." She says with a shake of the head. She then greets the people standing next to us and makes her way towards Steve.

"Peck!" Frank stands next to us then and gives me a greeting. Next to him is Noel his wife.

"Frank, Noel. Glad you guys made it." I smile at them. Frank then moves around to greet the people next to him.

"You got a nice house Gail. They must pay a detective back in Vancouver more than we do." Noel notes.

"That's what I said." Sam tells her.

"Yeah, no." I could feel Jameson eyeing me then. Answer quick and reasonably. "I may have taken a lot of jobs, worked overtime, went undercover a lot. Didn't have much to spend on. So I saved up, came here, and spent most of it. And the best part, being a Peck had nothing to do with it." I tell them with a smile and they laugh at that.

"Being undercover can be hard sometimes. How'd you manage doing it too much?" Andy asks me then.

"I don't know. I mean, I did get hurt a few times. But I didn't have much to lose and I just wanted to put the bad guys away. I am not exactly friendly sometimes, so my life wasn't that exciting which is why going undercover was a way to kill boredom sometimes. Though the people I worked with thought it was career ambitions." I tell them with a shrug.

"The scars on your wrists?" Andy asks as she looks at my wrists that happened to be covered since I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt.

"Yeah, my cover was blown and the guy I was after wanted to know how much we knew. I refused to tell him. He started making cuts in my wrist thinking that I'd confess if I was near death." I tell them.

"Did you? Confess?" James jumps into the conversation and looks me in the eye as he asks his question.

"I almost did, but my undercover partner found me then and got the guy, before he got me." I answer.

"Any other scars?" He then questions with raised eye brows and a challenging look. If I say yes he'd be suspicious, if I say no, he'd also be suspicious. I'll keep closer to the truth.

"I got shot a couple of times." I cringe at that. "The worst part about being undercover, is you don't have a vest on, so in danger situations, it's easy to kill you."

"Getting shot wearing a vest is bad enough." Andy says as she shudders at the mention of being shot. "Remember that guy last month?" She directs her question to James. "He shot me right in the stomach, hurt like a bitch. James here dodged his bullet easily though and shot him in the leg."

"I didn't dodge it. I turned around at the sound when you got shot and found myself facing a gun, what was I supposed to do? I reacted. I was faster than him I guess." He tells her.

"He did shoot, I heard a second shot." Andy protests.

"I didn't hear it. If he did shoot, he missed. Lucky me." He says.

"Oh come on. Stop being modest. If you did dodge it, it's kinda cool. I should learn how to do that. Don't feel like going through the pain of being shot, ever again." I say. He may have used his spy skills in the job, but no one seems to be suspicious about it, and I needed him to believe that I was impressed with it.

He just gives me a cocky smile then.

"I think I need more alcohol. And food." I excuse myself with that. As I turn around I find nick standing somewhere alone. I decide then to be the better person and talk to him. He was right before. If we will be working together, we need to fix some things.

"Hey." I greet him and looks surprised that I approached him.

"Hey. Thanks for inviting me." He says with a genuine smile.

"No problem." I give a bit of a smile back. "Why are you being mister loner? The army got you anti-social?"

"Nah, I was with Chris and Price. One went to get drinks, the other food." He tells me.

"Right."

"I'm sorry." He says suddenly and I look at him questioningly. "I should've said it a long time ago. I'm really sorry Gail. I really didn't want to hurt you." He apologizes and I know he means it.

"We wouldn't have lasted anyways." I try to lighten the mood, hoping to divert it from the serious path it was heading to.

"Maybe. I just got scared and… I should've told you I couldn't do it. I should've talked to you before I left. I shouldn't have just disappeared." He continues with his apologizes.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one who disappeared." I remind him and he chuckles a bit. "Look, it didn't work out. We're different now. Let's just move past this. I've moved on, I hope you have to. So let's just put it behind us and work together."

"That would be good." He says and smiles.

"Well alright, I'll leave you to your weird lonely soldier act. I need food." I excuse myself with that.

Once I grab a burger plate and eat it whole, I make my way towards the alcohol grabbing a beer. Once the beer is opened, I feel a presence behind me. James. It would be best to acknowledge him after a turn around, right? So I do turn around.

"Ian. Beer, whiskey or tequila?" I ask him hoping to avoid any conversation he may have wanted by playing hostess.

"A beer. Thanks." He says and I turn around and get him one. Once I hand it to him I try to walk past hoping that he had no conversation in mind. Unfortunately he talks before I could get away.

"You got tomorrow off right?" He asks me. Oh no. He's gonna try his luck with me again.

"Yes I do." I answer simply with no emotion.

"I do too." He lets me know. "Wanna hang out?"

"I already have plans, but thanks for the offer." I reject him nicely.

"I'm really harmless Gail. I swear." He says. Right. Harmless. Doubt that.

"I know. But I do have plans. And I already told you, I'm not really interested in you that way." I try shutting him down again.

"You might change your mind if you give me a chance." He keeps pushing.

"You're really not my type." I try to convince him, hoping he'd catch the hint in my words. But then someone walking through the backyard door catches my eyes. A tall toned body with long dark hair. glasses, a white shirt with a leather jacker atop and black pants. And then our eyes lock and my breath hitches. Holly smiles at me and I return the smile.

"Oh, I guess I see why." I forgot Ian was there. When I look at him I find him looking at Holly. "Sorry, it's just you dated Nick. So I just assumed…" He trails off. "Sorry I kept pushing." Oh, he thinks I'm rejecting him cause I like women now. Well, if it gets him off my back, I'm not correcting him. I do like women. Well one, to be exact. And that one happens to be walking towards us.

"Dr. Stewart." Ian greets with a nod that she returns and then he walks away.

"Oh thank God you came." I tell her.

"Too happy to see me?" She teases.

"I thought he'd never leave." I point in Ian's direction. Making her think that I am only happy she came cause she got Ian away from me. She chuckles at that.

"Well you saved me from a pushy date. Let's call it even then." She says and smiles. I couldn't help but smile back and somehow we end up with our eyes locked.

It isn't until Leo calls out to me that I turn away.

"Gail." The kid starts as he reaches me. "Steve says you have a console with some cool games. Can we play?" He asks me excitedly.

"Sure thing kid. Maybe later?" I ask him then.

"Okay." He answers. Not as excitedly but still excited enough.

Once he leaves back towards Steve and Traci, I turn my attention back to Holly.

"So what would you like to drink?" I ask her.

"A beer would be good."

I grab a bottle and hand it to her.

"Food is over there. Handled by Chris now apparently." I tell her as I point towards Chris. "Let's go get some."

"You haven't eaten yet?" She asks, but her tone shows she knows fully well I have so I don't give her an answer. I just show her my smug face.

"Right." She says. "Well I'm starving so, some food would be good."

I then lead her towards Chris. And we get some burgers and hotdogs. Holly then leads us towards the table where Steve and Traci are sitting, with Leo, Oliver, Celery and Izzy (I think that's Oliver's daughter's name). I was hoping I'd just enjoy the food with just her and me. But she already sat down, I couldn't drag her away now.

"Hey Holly. Gail being mean to you?" Steve asks her once he notices the small scowl I was wearing. Holly just looks at me and chuckles when she sees the expression I throw steve at that moment.

"No, not to me. But I think she will be mean to you now." She says and she's right.

"Oh I'm used to that. She's always mean to me." He replies.

"Maybe I should upgrade then. Be worse than mean." I say through gritted teeth. I then feel a hand on my knee under the table. Holly has reached down and she squeezes my knee in order to calm me down. That act may have calmed my anger but it has started something else. I lose the scowl immediately and I look her way. Her eyes are gentle and warm, and her hand is sending tingles all over my body. Her eyes leave my face and she turns back towards her food. Then her eyes aren't the only thing that leaves me, her hand is up and she uses it to eat. But the tingles are still there. And I just couldn't stop staring at her then.

"Or you can get distracted and forget all about it." Steve notes then but I ignore him.

"Something interesting about Dr Stewart Gail?" Steve teases, and I could see Holly smile through her bite. I just turn away before she could look at me. Why did I have to be so pale? I'm sure everyone's seen my blush. Even Holly.

"Ass." I spit towards him. I then eat my food.

"Hey children present here Gail." Oliver warns. Right Leo. I give Traci an apologetic look. But Leo's not who Oliver meant. "Izzy, ignore the bad mouthed girl over here." He adds teasingly.

"Dad." Izzy wines. She then pulls out her phone and starts typing.

"Hey Oliver. You dragged here didn't you?" I ask him and he just smiles at me.

"What'd you do Kid?" I ask louder knowing Izzy would know I meant her.

"Got suspended from school." She grits out in a barely audible voice.

"Ah. Do anything bad?" I try to keep her attention on me.

"Maybe. Mr Burt has it in for me." She grunts out.

"Hey now. We don't accuse people of such things. You did talk back and leave his classroom." Oliver warns. Accusing a teacher of being unjust is not a good thing. But then again I had a math teacher like that back in Highschool.

"Wait. Burt? Short. Dark hair. Doesn't pronounce his 'R's well, and always wears ties?" I ask Izzy. What if it's the same.

"Yeah?"

"Oh God. I went to your high school." I laugh at the realization. "He hated me too. Ever since I corrected him once. I'm guessing you did that? He hates having a student outsmart him. He's a snot."

"Yes. He doesn't even teach us how to do things. We have to figure them out ourselves. He had his equation wrong. I was trying to help so he kicked me out." She tells me.

"That can't be why you're suspended, can it? It's unfair." Traci then jumps in.

"He got me suspended after he kicked me out ten times." I tell Traci remembering when the principal had to call my parents and the anger and fear I felt when mom would know.

"Me too! And the principal is a… jerk." She remembers Leo's at the table and chooses a better word. "He's too lazy to investigate a teacher."

"OMG! I remember this. Mom was furious. And she wouldn't believe you when you told her about the teacher. You actually were telling the truth!" Steve exclaims.

"Duh! I got suspended for other things. And I told mom about those too. Why would she think I lied about that time, I have no idea. Oh wait. Right. Because you told her the teacher was great. But you slept through math when you had him. So you wouldn't know." I point out to him and he grimaces at the memory.

"Trouble maker in school then?" Holly asks me.

"How else was I to have fun?" I tell her and she just looks at me amused.

"How bad is this teacher exactly then?" Oliver then asks worried.

"The worst!" Me and Izzy say together.

"I'm sure you had plans with your friends but Oliver made you come here?" I ask her.

"Yep, punishement."

"Unfair Oliver." I tell him.

"I see that now." He says. "I'll have to look into this Mr Burt. Have a chat with him maybe."

"Oh No! He'll even hate her more. Let me take care of it." I tell him with a smile.

"Oh no. Put that smile away Gail. You're not going to that Highschool and scaring the teacher." Steve warns me.

"I wasn't gonna. I just have connections on school boards. I'll have them do it." Or his idea could sound better. I make a mental note then to call someone about Mr Burt. I was sure he'd eventually get kicked out.

"Good." He says and Izzy just says a Thank you.

"You'd still like to go there and scare him wouldn't you?" I head Holly say close to my ear so only I could hear.

"Oh definitely."

She then gets closer. "It's kind of cool, you're looking out for the kid." I could feel her breath tickling my ear as she says that. Once it's said she moves back to her previous position.

I just turn towards her and she was still smiling. Two can play at this teasing game. Right?

I lean over and whisper in her ear huskily. "Maybe one day I could show you how cool I really am."

Once I move away she meets me eyes and I could see she got my meaning, and her eyes darken a little bit.

I smile triumphantly then and turn towards Celery. Traci said she was a witch. It would be cool to get to know about her.

While we're all talking at the table I look around and I see James walking away with the phone to his ears. He enters the house and I know that I need to record this conversation. But when I look over I can't tell which room he's in.

So I pull out my phone and activate all cameras in the house. I then text Marcus and tell him to check all cameras.

Four minutes later I see James walk back out and join his group. Right then I get a text from Marcus.

_This has so gotten more interesting. Whoever he was talking to wanted him to do something. He turned him down saying he couldn't leave now or he'd blow his cover. He told him he'll finish the job soon though. I'm going to try to pull a check on his phone number and see what number has called him. It'll take a bit of time to make sure he doesn't catch me. Good job._

So this is a cover and he's working with someone or for someone. What could his job be? I text Marcus back.

_Try and get this number. We need to know what this job could be. We'll get together after everyone leaves here and talk about this more._

_Of course -M_

I then put my phone away and think of what could James need to do. Why would an ex spy need to pose as a police officer?

"Hey you okay?" Holly's hand is back on my knee.

"Yeah, sorry. Zoned out." I reassure her with a smile.

"Okay." And her hand is off my knee again. Damn it. Stop teasing me woman!

Oliver then calls my attention and we get into another conversation. It's great to see everyone interact. To see the people Steve has surrounded himself with and know that they are great.

They're fun and easy to get along with. Oliver seems to hold a father figure for the rest of the officers. I could see that they looked up to him.

And Holly. Just her being close radiates heat unto my body and it makes me steal glances at her whenever I could.

She maybe my means of diverting James's attention away from me. And that's with good reason. Because I truly do like her. I've been intrigued by her since the day we bumped into each other outside the station. It's great to see her interact with the people around her. She's only been the forensic's pathologist for the past 9 months but she's so damn good at her job and it was clear she gets respect for that.

An hour or so later. Some of the people start to leave. By the end all who's left are: Dov, Chris, Nick, Andy, Sam, Chloe, James, Traci, Steve, Leo and Holly.

We all gather for a conversation and I realize how much of a close and fun group they are. Would I have been friends with them if I hadn't left five years ago? If I stuck around and became a cop here in the city? Would it have been easier then? To like Holly this much? I hoped I'd get a chance to be alone with her tonight, but I also didn't hope for that. I wanted her, but I was scared of being alone with her. I was still unsure if I should drag her into all of this.

Everyone offers to help me clean up but I refuse. I tell them to relax, I have this. I'll just do it in the morning.

That's when I realize that the night is coming to an end. And I remember that I did everything needed of me in front of James except one thing. Clumsy act.

What could I do? Trip? Cut myself as Marcus suggested? Hit a door or a wall?

I guess if I show imbalance it could work.

"I'm just going to grab one more beer. I am like completely sober now. Gotta change that." I exclaim and Steve tells me to bring him one too cause he and I only had three, he was keeping count. We need to at least get tipsy.

I thought I'd trip while I make my way back from where the alcohol is. But I didn't plan on Holly following me. Somehow I let my guard down and didn't feel her following me. I guess I was lost in my thoughts and in my scheming. I didn't want to do anything too embarrassing in front of Holly. So I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. Bad spy move. It wasn't till I felt her breath on my ear and her words echoed in that I jumped back.

"I'll have one too." She says softly in a whisper and I jump back and drop the beer I was opening. It breaks on the table. And as I try in that same second to step away from the glass I bump into Holly who was behind me and the feel of her body surprised me that I step back forward and put my hands down towards the table, where unfortunately the glass was. In one second I had cut my hand.

"Shit." I exclaim once I feel the pain.

"Shit Gail. I'm so sorry for startling you. Let me see." She apologizes immediately and reaches out for my hand.

"It's fine." I tell her once I look at it myself. I've had too many cuts in the years to know when I have a bad one.

"It looks deep. You need to get it cleaned. Do you have a first aid kit?" She asks me and I nod.

"It's in the bathroom." I tell her.

"Come on. If you're lucky you might not need stitches at all." She says as she grabs my good hand and drags me away. On her way she picks up a towel that was laying by the barbecue.

"Put this on the cut. You don't want to bleed all over the place." She instructs.

"Really I'm fine. It's not a deep cut." I try to reassure her. I don't know how I'd feel if she dragged me up there and fixed me up. If I was alone with her in a room. If she was touching me.

"I'll feel better if I see that for myself." She says and keeps dragging me.

"You okay Gail?" Traci asks when we pass by her.

"Dropped a beer and cut myself." I inform her lifting the hand I'd wrapped the towel around. "Doc here is going to fix it apparently."

"Still Clumsy Gail?" Steve taunts and I just pull out my tongue at him like a little five year old. "Real mature." He says.

"How bad is it?" James then asks with his face towards Holly. Wait, I did it. Clumsy act in front of Jameson. It wasn't an act though. I was truly clumsy.

"Once it's clean I'll know if it'll need stitches." She tells him and with that she drags me into the house. She asks where's the kitchen and drags me towards it.

She pulls out a bar stool I had and orders me to sit. When I do sit I realize Steve had followed us. Holly informs me she'll go get the first aid kit and I give her directions to the downstairs bathroom and she leaves to find it.

"Do that on purpose Gail?" Steve taunts.

"Shut your face. I was startled." I pout at him.

"By Holly?" He gives me a smug face.

"Go away." I wave him off.

"Oh I will. Once Holly comes back. I'll just leave you alone with her." He informs me, smug face still in place.

"Steve leave Gail alone." Traci show up and scolds Steve. Go Traci. Steve just lifts his shoulders and saunters past her towards the outside.

"You know, she likes you too." Traci tells me once Steve is out of ear shot. "It's okay to be happy. From what I heard about you, and learned about you. You don't think you deserve much. I may not know you that well, but I am observant." Traci was an insightful person and a gentle soul. But she was right, she didn't know me well enough for that.

"And what have you observed?" I ask her a bit defensively.

"That you like her. She likes you. She's good for you." She tells me. She stated what she has been seeing this night I guess. I can't blame her for her comments. I do like Holly, and I have a feeling it's mutual. It showed tonight. I could drag this for a while, or I could acknowledge this now. And God, do i just want to do that now. Just kiss Holly and show her I like her.

"Maybe." I relent and confess to Traci.

"Maybe?" She prompts for more answers.

"Maybe." I repeat and don't say more.

Holly walks back in with the first aid kit and Traci smiles at her. "I'll let you do your job doctor." She says to Holly before she leaves the room and I am left with Holly alone.

"You got a good kit here. Let's see that wound." She pulls out the stool next to mine and takes the towel off of my hand. She then inspects my hand before taking the tools she needs and gets to work. The second her hands are touching mine the tingles take over and I just stare at her. Ignoring the work she's doing on my hand and just stare at her face and the expressions that take over it while she does her work.

"Lucky, no stitches needed." She tells me once she's done. She then grabs the gauze and starts wrapping it around my hand. When she finishes the makes sure the gauze is secure and then she meets my eyes with worry written on her face.

"You should really be careful Gail. I know it was partially my fault but still. I'm just glad it wasn't your wrist that got injured. And it didn't get infect. You would need stitches then, You could faint and you could die from that. You're lucky it was a beer bottle, the alcohol wouldn't have let the cut get infected. You could have gotten an infection if it were anything else…" She's rambling and she looks so damn cute doing that. She does know I am a 'cop' right? I face worse than a simple cut everyday. But her rambling and her worry were just so adorable. "You could die from a simple cut sometimes…" I couldn't take it anymore. Looking at her ramble and the way her face was filled with worry and care. I guess I made my decision. Traci and Steve are right. Holly is good for me. I guess I made my decision. And it kills me that I'll be dragging her into something like this but I can't help it. I simply lunge at her. I just grab her face and pull her closer and I place my lips on hers. I couldn't help but kiss her stopping her rambling. She seems surprised for a second but then returns my kiss and I could feel her lips moving with mine making my whole body tingle and my mind lose every thought. All I felt and thought about were her lips on mine. A few seconds later I pull away and meet her eyes which were hooded and daze. I'm guessing mine were the same.

"Too many words there." I tell her breathlessly and before she could reply I attack her lips again and I get lost in them.


	14. I Won't Fight It

**I love reading your reviews. Thank you for reading my story and for your feedback. **

**Updates are slow I know. And I apologize. I will be flying across the country to visit my family in a couple of days so I hope I'll get to update during my two weeks visit. The story is completely done in my head and main points of it have been written down. Now I just have to finish writing it. I promise the mystery will start to fade little by little. Hope you bear with me and don't lose interest.**

**Once again. I don't own Rookie Blue or any of it's characters.**

**14. I Won't Fight It**

"Too many words there." I tell her breathlessly and before she could reply I attack her lips again and I get lost in them.

And just the feel of her lips on mine was more than enough to ignite a part of me that has been dead for a long time now. I don't even think anyone's ever made me feel this alive with just a kiss. And the way she was responding to my lips was fogging my brain.

All I could do was feel. With both my hands cradling her face bringing her closer to me, and her hands seemed to have found their way to my waist, holding on to me.

I wanted more.

I guess she did too. Because seconds later, I feel a tongue tracing my bottom lip and I open my mouth to meet it with my own making our kiss more heated.

I slid my injured hand down to her shoulder and rested it there while the other hand just tangled in her hair. Holly's hands on my waist flexed and I just needed even more.

I knew that we had to come for air sometime, but I didn't want to.

This moment I let all thinking out, I forgot that I was on a mission, that I will be leaving after it's done, that I was bringing someone into a dangerous situation. Just for those minutes, I was being selfish, and went after what I wanted. Because I couldn't deny it or even control it, the fact that I wanted Holly. I wanted her from the day I bumped into her, and the day that she handled my snark. For just a few minutes, I wanted to feel alive, and she somehow, in this moment, made the hate, the regret, the anger and the guilt go away.

I tried to pull the stool I was sitting on closer to her with my feet, hoping that our kiss wouldn't break. When it seemed a bit difficult I simply stood up and moved closer. I could feel the heat radiating off of her body before mine even touched it. I was contemplating actually straddling her in her seat until she stood up during the kiss as well. Once it seemed possible I reached my good hand down towards her lower back and pulled her towards me until our bodies met and my tingles increased. Until my want became even more, became a desperate need. And right when our bodies met, with no space between us, I heard her moan and I couldn't hear that sound and not match it with my own.

I was so lost in the moment, in the feeling that I forgot that there was a world outside of the one we were in. I forgot that there were people in my house still. And Steve thought it'd be great to remind me.

"Gail! If you're all good now in there, let's play some xBox?" At the faint sound of Steve's voice, our little bubble breaks and we fall back to reality.

I break away from our kiss and I just rest my forehead on Holly's with my eyes still closed, still holding on to the feel of her closeness refusing to break apart just yet. A few seconds later I dare to move my head away a little and open my eyes and I find myself met with brown eyes looking back at me. Eyes that are darker than their usual color, eyes that are still concealed with glasses, eyes that are showing care and also surprise. Eyes that were just as dazed as mine and I couldn't look away.

"Gail?" Gah! Steve! I am so going to kill him! He's ruining our moment. I just wanted to ignore him and keep gazing at Holly. But I'm sure that if I don't respond anytime soon he'll come checking up on me.

"I'm all good. We'll be there in a second." I assure him glad that he didn't even come into the kitchen when he first called for me.

"We should um…" No, we should stay here. I didn't want to look away from her eyes, not now. But if I don't look away, I'll never make it out of this room anytime soon. So do just that. I reluctantly look away as I clear my throat. "We should get back out there." With that I drop my hands from her body and I take one step away. Her hands then fall to her sides and I instantly miss the heat.

"Yeah." She agrees. And I look up to her eyes and I see confusion all over her features. The glint that she had there before was fading a bit.

Okay Gail. Sawyer mode now. Process this fast. You just kissed her out of the blue in your kitchen, right after she finished taking care of your injury. You didn't give her a chance to say anything, just attacked her lips again. The kiss went from being innocent to full on heated. Steve breaks the spell and you don't say anything about what happened. You just step away and tell her you need to go back out there. Does she think that this was a one time deal thing? Spur of the moment? Just a kiss that I won't even give second thoughts to? Or maybe the glint is fading because she didn't want the kiss to end as well? Because she was just as irritated at Steve for breaking their moment?

Either way, I want that glint back.

When the processing was over I find that she had already started to make her way out of the kitchen. Before she reaches the doorway and walks out I make sure to make my way there and reach for her wrist and I stand ground until she turns to meet my eyes.

When she turns halts her steps and meets my gaze I step forward again getting closer getting us back to our previous embrace. I place both my hands around her and she then lifts hers towards my waist. When I see the glint back in her eyes I move my head forward and capture her lips once more in a small innocent kiss. A kiss that was meant to reassure her that it wasn't a one time thing. That I meant the kiss and that I wanted it to happen again.

When I move my head away she was holding a smile on her face.

"You working tomorrow?" I ask her with my voice still dazed.

"No."

"Well neither am I. So would like to go to lunch with me?" I ask a bit hesitantly.

"Lunch?" She repeats.

"Yeah, maybe even do something after that." I add hopefully.

"Like a date?" She asks her smile still in place.

"If you want."

"Okay." She answers. And before I could say anything she breaks our current position, grabs my good hand and drags me towards the other room where I find that everyone was hanging. Once we reach that room Holly drops my hand.

"Hey. You okay?" Steve asks me as soon as he sees us.

"Yep. No stitches needed." I reply as I lift my gauzed up hand.

"So you can still play?" Leo asks hopefully.

"No." Holly answers for me before I can even form words. "You shouldn't move you hand too much for the next day. I didn't stitch your wound but that doesn't mean that it wasn't bad. Just let it heal."

"Sorry kid. Doctor's orders." I give him with an apologetic look. "Well at least it was my left hand that got injured. I can still use my gun with the right one." I add happily.

"Then take better care of it. Considering you're still clumsy you may injure that one too." Steve teases. "How many drinks did you have tonight?"

"I'm not drunk if that's what you're implying at. Not even tipsy. And I still have a good hand and good aim." I tell him and he doesn't get what I meant with that until he feels a pillow hit him right in the head. "So this makes me wonder how many drinks _you_ had."

"Join the police. Cop… detective…" Steve mumbles and that was all I could catch. I guess he was just mumbling about me being a detective and being a match to him now. I just ignore his crazy mumbles and pull Holly down to sit next to me.

Once we're seated I don't let go of her hand. We just sit and watch the guys play while some engage in conversation that we even jump into. All during I keep hold of Holly's hand and steal glances at her. And every time I do, I see a smile on her face. And yet no one notices that my hand is still holding hers, I don't feel any of the eyes of the people around us linger on our joined hands. I don't see anyone looking at us in question. It was as if they were oblivious. Except for 'Ian'. About thirty minutes later he notices our joined hands and he just looks at Holly with a weird expression. And just the fact that he's looking at her makes me uneasy. I guess my grip on her hand tightened because she breaks her conversation with Traci and squeezes my hand to get my attention.

"You okay?" She asks in a whisper.

"Yeah." I match her tone. "My hand just hurts a bit." I try to blame the sudden tense pose on my injured hand and not on the fact that Jameson was just looking at Holly.

"Maybe I should've given you a couple of stitches, just in case." She says voice at normal volume, worry filling it.

"I'm okay. Really. This is nothing. I've had worse." I reassure her but that doesn't seem to work.

"How much worse?" I guess telling someone who's worried about you that you've had more pain than the pain that's worrying them now, isn't a good idea.

"It comes with the job. Ask everyone here." I was sure everyone was listening to us by now. And I didn't feel like getting into a conversation about the scars I had. I'm lucky I injured my hand and the left one at that. My long sleeves concealed my scars and the ones on the left arm were higher placed than the ones on the right arm.

"Yep. I needed three stitches done to my hand first day on the job." Andy pipes up and with that people started sharing stories about injuries they've gotten on the job.

The conversation dragged on while the games were still being played. And for once I was having fun. I was glad the cameras were manually activated, I didn't want anyone privy on these moments. Moments that I may not have again when this is over.

"You need help cleaning up Gail? I'm sure it'll be a pain with your hand injured?" Chris offers.

"Nah. I'll just dial a cleaning service. I call them a couple times a week." I assure him.

"Gail." Steve scolds. He can't expect me to clean. I never have. Besides, being a Peck, we always had someone do it for us.

"What? I'm a Peck." I remind him and he just shakes his head at my comment.

When Leo starts getting sleepy, everyone automatically takes it as their cue to leave. The cops say their goodbyes with a 'thank you' and nod. Except for Traci, Andy, Steve and Leo who give me a hug.

Holly seemed to linger at the doorway after everyone else left.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" She asks hopefully with a small smile.

"Yes. We may have a few things to talk about." I tell her returning her smile.

"Things, like a kiss?" She asks with a smirk.

"Yeah, a kiss, or two." I remind her that there were two kisses, not one. "Or three." I add as I step closer to her and give her kiss similar to the second one I gave her in the kitchen. A kiss with the same purpose, to reassure her that the kissing wasn't just a now thing and that I plan on it happening again. When I break the kiss she reaches for my neck and pulls me closer again.

"Or four." She whispers against my lips before she captures them once again in a kiss that's more heated than the one I just gave her, and a kiss that lasts slightly longer.

"Pick you up tomorrow at noon?" I ask her breathlessly once we break the kiss.

"See you then." She says with a smile and then she makes her way out, I simply follow her out towards her car, which she parked a couple of houses away and she doesn't protest.

"Goodnight Gail." She says before she opens her car door.

"Goodnight."

And with that she gets in her car and I wait for her to drive away before I make my way back into the house.

Once I'm inside I call Marcus and tell him to that everyone's left, so he needs to come so we can clean up and discuss things.

* * *

"You know, you could help." Marcus reminds me as he lifts up the last of the garbage bags. He was the one cleaning up while I just sat at a chair and watched him clean.

"Can't, injured hand." I raise my left hand as evidence.

"Not THAT injured." He contradicts.

"Whatever. You're the one who didn't call in extra help!" I remind him that we could've called for help from the agency. It was their idea to do this anyways.

"I'm almost done anyways." He picks up what's left on the table and puts it in the trash. It took him about an hour or so to clean everything. The guy works fast.

"How'd you get your hand injured anyways?" He asks as he lifts the last of the garbage bags and puts it aside by the othe two.

"I was supposed to do something clumsy. So I just accidentally layer my hand on some broken glass." I say with a shrug as if it was no big deal.

"Accidentally? Not on purpose?" He asks with a raised brow.

"Well, I had to make it look real."

"Did he buy it?" He then asks.

"Yes."

"And did the hot doctor stitch you up?" He teases and I just narrow my eyes at him.

"No stitches were needed." I say through gritted teeth.

"But she did fix you up?" He pushes.

"Whatever. Are you done now so we can discuss the James situation?" I dismiss the trail the conversation was headed towards.

"Let's head inside." He walks ahead of me and stands where the door to the basement should be and waits for me to stand next to him.

"Agent 875 requesting entry." I say clearly and wait for the floor to open.

"Access granted." We hear replied and the floor under us drops until we are standing in the basement.

"Okay, let me conjure up the video so you can watch." Marcus then makes his way towards the computer and finds the video.

"So he was only alone once?" He asks me.

"Yes. I kept an eye on him almost 98% of the time. He only left to take that one phone call. He did text a couple of times though." I answer him explaining why I only got one video.

"Okay. Well watch this." He presses play and the screen moves.

Jameson is pacing in the middle of my living room with the phone to his ears and he's speaking in a bit of a hushed tone.

"Yes… I am aware of that… No don't… I said I'll do it myself… I can't leave now… You know why… We needed this cover, I leave with no reason or explanation I blow it… I said I'll finish the job myself… It'll be fine… Yes I am aware of that… We'll discuss this later… Yes sure, bye." With that he just tucks his phone and walks back out. And that's where I cut off the cameras.

"Any luck on the number?" I ask him.

"Not yet. His phone number has a firewall. Everytime I try to access it I get blocked, and if I try to reach behind the block he'll be notified." He informs me.

"It would've been easier if I just pretend to date him, steal his phone, get the number, know everything and then shoot him." I whine.

"Yeah, or he'll blow your cover, kill you and run away." He reminds me. "Besides, I thought he creeped you out."

"He does!"

"And also, I thought you liked the hot pathologist." He comments and I roll my eyes at him.

"So how are we going to deal with this? I'm sure you've contacted Stevens and sent her this. What are our orders?" I ask.

"To go on as we are. This is going to be slow. We don't do any movements until we know something. At least know who he's working with. So we watch him same way we are now." He tells me and I just nod.

"Oh and also, when was the last time you trained?" He asks me while getting up and walking towards the other side of the basement where it was equipped to be a place to train.

"Not since I started on this." I answer as I get up and join him.

"Ready?" He challenges raising his hands defensively and I just give him an evil smirk.

* * *

_I'm outside. If you don't want me to honk like last time, find your way out. _I text Holly once I park outside her house at noon on Sunday.

_I'll be out in a second. keep your hands off the horn. _She texts back. I then get out of the car and lean on the passenger door. Three seconds later she walks out. She walks towards the car with her hands in her pockets. She was wearing black pants, with a red shirt and a dark grey jacket. Red looks good on her. Once she reaches the passenger side door she smiles at me and my breath hitches.

"Hello Gail." She greets smile in place once she reaches me.

"Hey." I answer softly with a smile of my own. I really wanted to move closer and kiss her at that moment. She looked stunning. But I knew that I couldn't do that yet, not until we talked. So I move and open the door for her. Her smile turns grateful then and she gets in.

I walk around the car back to the other side of the car and I get in.

"So where to?" She asks me once I turn on the ignition.

"Lunch? Then maybe a movie or arcade?" I suggest. "Or you know something else even. Your pick. But Lunch first."

"Of course." She answers knowingly before she laughs. And that sound right there is why I can't fight this anymore. Why I can't just stay away from Holly. Even though it would be for her own safety. But that sound, once heard, needs to be heard again.

"Well I hope you like Pizza." I thought it'd be a good choice for lunch. Not fancy and a food that everyone likes. I'll make sure to take her somewhere nice when it's dinner plans.

"Pizza's great." She answers and I just smile and drive towards the same place where I got into this job in the first place. Hopefully there will be no cops there at this time, and I'll have Holly to myself.

* * *

"Pineapple on your Pizza? Seriously Gail?" We made it into the restaurant and luckily it wasn't crowded. We found a table and once we pondered over the menu, Holly ordered herself a vegetarian pizza while I ordered a pizza that's half hawaiian, half with toppings. Of course we ordered fries with that and a salad. Holly however questions my choice in pizza while we wait for our food.

"What? It's good." I reason and she just gives me a questioning look. "Oh come on! You can't judge it till you taste it."

"Are you offering to share food?" She asks with amusement. "Cause I remember Steve saying that you don't share food."

"I seem to recall that I _did_ share my food with you. Oh and this won't be sharing, this will be an introduction to good food for you." I tell her.

"And what if I don't like it?"

"Then you're weird." I say with a shrug.

"Oh I'll be the weird one?" She asks incredulously.

"Well you're the nerd." I say as if that should answer her question. As if being a nerd means being weird.

"Not the only nerd here." She argues.

"You have no proof of that." I narrow my eyes at her. Maybe I am a nerd too, so what? I like my share of comic books, I'm good with computers and maths, and I also have a bit of medical knowledge. She doesn't have to know that right away does she?

"Oh I'll find proof." She promises.

"You can try." I smirk at that.

"Well you have a knowledge of superheroes. That's a good start for me. Just give, you're one of us." She returns my smirk with one of her one.

"Well I don't carry a lunchbox to work." She just laughs at that.

"It's a medical kit." She argues.

"Yeah whatever, rather carry my gun to that."

"And what if it was an actual lunchbox with food. Still prefer your gun then?" She gives me challenging looks then. Challenging me to deny that I'd prefer food over a gun.

"Depends." I answer.

"On?"

"The food it has inside." I answer and she laughs at that.

Before we pick up on any conversation our food arrives.

"You're tasting this." I say pointing at the Pineapple side of my pizza.

"No I'm good."

"Please?"

"Oh god, stop. Fine." She relents and I just take a slice off my plate and place it in hers.

She picks it up and eyes me questioningly before she brings it up to her lips and takes a bite.

"Okay, you're right. This isn't bad." She confesses and takes another bite.

I just smile and start eating. I think she's gotten to know me a bit more since she didn't talk much during the eating process. I was finished with my food before she was though.

"So it's great that you got a whole weekend off on your first week on the job." Holly comments.

"Well I come highly recommended so." Yep, ego play time.

"Oh is that so?"

"Yep. I'm the best." Which is kind of true. I am the best at the agency right now. Spy, detective, what's the difference? Right? And I'm glad that she found my trying to show an ego amusing, because she chuckled. "Just like you are the best at what you do." I add.

"And where'd you hear that?" She asks surprised and a little blush.

"From everybody at the station." I tell her. Which is true. I heard a lot of praise about her work.

"Well, I guess we're both the best at what we do." She then gives me that lopsided grin and I think my heart skipped a beat.

I had to look away in order to form an understandable sentence.

"So um…" Clears throat. "Why pathology?" I ask interested.

"I don't know. I mean, I just didn't like poking at the living." She says and shrugs, but I could see that the side of her face twitched. Could that be what she does when she lies?

"That can't be it." I call her on her lie and she just raises her eyebrows at me.

"Well why did you join the police force?" She asks ignoring my comment.

"I know most people think it's because of my family. It's not." I decide to answer her truthfully. Maybe I didn't join the police, but joining the agency was for the same reasons I will site to her. "I was just good at it. Since I was a kid, I was trained to be the best. It was as if I had already went to the police academy. So when it came down to choosing something, I could either pick what I was good at, or just stay wondering what to do. Besides, I like this job, I can help people."

"But your family influenced you in a way?" She remarks.

"Well yeah in a way. I mean, they prepared us for every case scenario. But I just didn't want to be shadowed by them when I join the force. Which is why I did it elsewhere. I built myself up without the expectations. It's not easy being a Peck." I had to throw sarcasm in there.

"Plus you get to hold a gun right?" She throws that one in.

"Yes, I get to use a gun." I say with a chuckle.

"When I was a kid, I loved science. Every aspect of it. By the time I turned sixteen I knew that I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help people, you know? But my second year in med school, I learned that I can help people in other ways too. I can help give people closure, or prevent any other murders, or put a bad guy behind bars. I could help in those things. I wasn't made to be a cop, but I could still help in other ways. Plus, there's no risk of killing people. They're already dead. My friends don't understand my choice much though." She answers my previous question with that. From the tone of her voice I could tell that she was proud of her choice.

"Well you're a genius, you could pick anything and do a great job at it. They don't have to understand it. As long as you do." I just smile at her and contemplate my next words. If she hadn't picked pathology, she wouldn't be here right now. But too soon to say that right?

"Some people find working with the dead weird." She says but her tone was more of a playful one.

"Well normal's overrated." I say as I lift the side of my lips into a small smile.

"Agreed." And with that we just go silent.

After a few minutes of staring at each other Holly breaks the silence.

"So how'd you like Vancouver?" I found her question weird.

"It was okay. But I missed home, otherwise I don't think I would've left." Weird as her question might be, I knew she had a point behind it.

"My sister's there for college." She tells me.

"What's she majoring in?" I ask showing interest. Which was true. I was interested in everything Holly.

"Architecture. Can you believe it? I'm totally into the science. And she just loves art. Complete opposite." She answers fondly with a smile.

"Where did you go to college?"

"I went to the University of Toronto. Had to pick the best in my field." Right. Toronto has the best medical university in the country. "My sister wanted to stay closer to home though."

I was surprised that I never asked where she was originally from. I was so lost in the fact that she was here at this moment that I didn't think she could've been somewhere else before.

"You're from Vancouver?"

"Victoria actually." She pauses for a second. "I visit when I get the chance. Sometimes my family visits me instead."

"Sounds like you miss them."

"I do. But my best option was here." And I'm glad it was.

"I wish I could deny it, but I missed my family too when I was away. Kind of. Steve mostly." Which is true. When I was away I turned a lot of emotions off. I thought I'd forget all about them, but the second I came here, emotions came back. And even though this mission is dragging on for too long, I'm glad I got it. I got the chance to spend it with my family.

"They can't be that bad."

"You have no idea."

Our conversation then went back to life in Victoria, and about the things she remembered from Vancouver, we even discussed a few places that I've been to.

* * *

After lunch we decided to go to an adult arcade instead of a movie.

I don't remember the last time I actually had fun with someone. Might be Nick. But I don't want to think of him at this moment. Or any moment that I'm with Holly. I kind of missed laughing and being carefree. I missed not having to keep an act all the time or always keep a look out for my life or having to always pay perfect attention to my surroundings.

We each had one beer, as we played some air hockey. Even some pool. We ignored the Bowling section of the arcade. Or well I did, she tried to get me to play some bowling but I kept avoiding it and she just laughed at me.

We even tried one of the zombie shooting games. It was amusing to watch her lose every time. She gave me a pout once she got exasperated with losing and I just jumped in to the rescue. I didn't consider the consequences of being close to her. I just stepped in behind her to teach her how to hold her gun properly and how to aim. And the second I got closer, she leaned a little bit on me. That action alone made me breathless. Once I knew she got the hang of it, I stepped away so that I could breathe again. When she shot her first zombie she just jumped she jumped in joy which distracted her and got her eaten by the other zombie coming her way and I couldn't not laugh at that.

"Oh shut it." She shoves me playfully and I just laugh harder.

After two hours of playing games, getting competitive, making stupid playful remarks about the other, shoving each other playfully and laughing we leave the arcade.

"That was fun." She notes.

"Yes it was." I agree with her as I meet her eyes and smile. I'm sure my smile was big, because it reflected on her and she smiled back, while meeting my eyes.

"You know what we should do now?" She asks her voice getting lower as she takes a step closer.

"What?" I manage to ask managing her tone. She doesn't answer me back though, instead she raises her hand to point behind me while her smile turns devilish.

I turn around to see what she's pointing at and I flat out refuse.

"No. I am not going in there."

"Oh come on. It could be fun." She tries to reason but I'm stubborn.

"No! I don't do sports."

"Or bowling apparently." She remarks. Considering I also refused to bowl.

"I am not going to the batting cages." I try to make my tone final but I know it's wavering. Especially when she just looks at me with those hopeful eye.

"Please." Damn! And there goes my resolve!

"Fine! But if a flying ball kills me. It's on you!" I warn her as I let her lead me towards the entrance to the batting cages. She just smiles while I groan.

Well can't say I didn't warn her. I just stood there and watched her hit every single ball coming her way.

When she was done she walked towards me and handed me the bat.

"Oh no. I think I'd rather watch." I raise my hands refusing to take the bat.

"Yeah, had fun watching?" She asks knowingly with raised eyebrows. She caught me. I may have been staring at her. "Besides. You're a cop. You should be able to do this."

"You say it as if being a cop automatically makes me good at everything." I then relent and take the bat.

"One way to find out." She says and I just walk into position.

I was never good at sports, but first year of training my aim got better, my posture got better. I got better at a lot of things. Doesn't mean I don't still like sports, I just wasn't as bad at them anymore. I guess I kind of had to keep a sort of charade though right? Even if it was with Holly? I hate this double life thing right now. I used to like missions, being someone else for a while, but right now, I hate that I have to be someone else. Even if that someone that I have to be is myself. Ugh, this is confusing. Gail Peck has changed, and I can't show most of those changes, I guess that's the point I'm trying to make, and I hate that I can't show Holly the changes I've made.

So when the first ball comes at me I totally miss it on purpose. Holly just laughs in the background and I just glare at her and then wait for the next ball to come. I miss that one too.

"See I'm hopeless. We can go now." I whine as I hold the bat facing downwards with my right hand.

"You're not even trying Gail." Holly Points out.

"How about you try and swing a bat with an injured hand." I lift my hand then to emphasis.

"You and I both know that your injury isn't that bad and the cut is already sealed up. Come on." She then steps closer and holds my hand up making sure I lift the bat.

"You need to fix your posture first." Her feet kick my feet apart and then she uses her hands to lift my own. Once I'm in the position she wants she steps closer and her front is glued to my back as she adjusts my hand posture and my grip on the bat.

"Now when the ball comes, just concentrate on it and swing." She whispers in my ear and I just shudder and almost lose the position she put me in.

Before my knees buckle at the feeling of her being close, she moves away and stand watch again. So when the next ball comes flying I actually swing and hit it.

"Wow. That one worked." I Point out and she just laughed.

"Well I'm a good teacher." She says proudly.

"That you are."

We play a little more. And once we're done I drive her back home. When I park I actually get out of the car before she says anything and I open the door for her.

"Chivalrous are we?" She taunts and I just shrug it off.

"Thanks for today." She says sweetly.

"Anytime." And I do mean it. I realize I'm smiling. It's been really long since I've smiled this long in one day.

"It wasn't quite the traditional date, but I enjoyed it."

"Me too." I enjoyed it a lot, and I think it had more to do with her than the actual date.

"I'd suggest we do something tomorrow as well, but my shift tomorrow starts at an unGodly hour! And ends late." I whine and she chuckles.

"I wish we could. But my shift matches yours tomorrow." She adds with a smile.

"I am taking you out again this week though." I tell her with a serious face.

"I'd like that." She says. "I'll probably flood your phone with texts."

"Like you don't already." I taunt and she slaps me playfully. "I like it when you do though."

She then closes whatever space is left between us, and makes sure her lips meet mine.

This kiss was sweet and slow. I guess our kisses yesterday were so unplanned that we actually got lost in each other. This kiss though was a promise of what's to come with time.

"Here's something to think about at that long shift." She whispers once our lips part. And with a smile she starts to walk away.

That's it? No I don't think so.

I just grab her hand lightly before she can step farther away from me.

"I think I'll need more things to think about." I say before I step closer and give her one more kiss.

Once we break apart she walks backwards towards her door, keeping her eyes on me.

"Goodnight officer." She says once she's far from my reach.

"I'm not an officer anymore, we established that." I remind her.

"Whatever you say." I guess she will keep using that against me. My fault for annoying her first. Oh well, I can annoy her more now.

"Well goodnight Lunchbox."


	15. Losing Grip

**Sorry this took a long while to update. I promise not to make you wait this long again.  
Thank you for your support and reviews, and I hope you haven't lost interest in this story. **

**Once again, I don't own Rookie Blue, or any of it's characters. **

**15. Losing Grip**

"You look awful!" I comment to Traci. I hand her then one of the two coffees I was holding. She and I were taking the early shift this morning. 6AM shift. I'm used to little sleep. Early missions. But Traci looks super tired.

"Thank you. I stayed up late. Leo had a fever." She says as she lifts her cup up to take a sip.

"Is he okay now?" I ask worry filling my tone.

"Yeah, his fever broke a few hours ago. He's with my mom." Right, Steve had a steak out last night.

"Why don't you take the day off? I'm sure Frank would understand."

"Maybe when Sam gets here. Hopefully we don't get any big cases today. I have so much paper work to finish." She sighs and fiddle with the papers in front of her. "How's the hand?"

"Better." I answer lifting my injured hand that now has less gauze.

I have some paper work of my own as well. Hopefully she's right. Hopefully we don't get any big cases today, so that I can finish my shift early and maybe go see Holly.

God it's only been a few hours and I already want to see her.

I just take a seat behind my desk and start on my own paperwork. I can't text Holly yet, I doubt her shift was as early as mine. I'll just wait a few hours before I text her.

A couple of hours later, Traci's phone rings.

"Hey Andy." She greets when she answers it. "Wait, hold on, Gail is, I'm going to put you on speaker." Traci then places her phone on her desk and I scoot my chair closer to listen better.

"Okay, you can repeat everything now slowly." Traci informs Andy.

"Okay, hi Gail." Andy greets me with a shaky voice. That doesn't sound like a good thing.

"What's up Andy?" I ask her.

"Well a call came in a few minutes ago, someone reported a breaking and entering. We were closest on the scene. When we arrived the caller said that she found the lock broken and the door open. After we checked she said nothing was stolen, but she can't find her daughter." Andy explains the situation she's in.

"A kidnapping situation?" Traci asks her.

"Yeah, but see the thing is… We found blood in the kitchen… and well the father is missing too. We checked everything, except the basement, it's locked." Andy's explanation wasn't very clear after that, but I knew well that when a child is missing and blood is at the scene, the worst is feared.

"We're on our way. Adress?" I don't even look at Traci for confirmation, she's surely on board.

I get up and wear my jacket while Andy tells us the address.

"Who's there with you?" I ask her.

"I'm riding with Collins right now." She informs me.

"Okay, we'll send in another squad car." With that Traci hangs up and we leave the station. On our way we call Oliver and ask him to meet us at the scene.

I may not be trained to be a detective, but I was trained to pay attention to every small detail around me. I'm sure I can handle this. So when we arrive at the scene I take everything in without touching anything. The house was in a nice part of the city so I'm guessing they're a wealthy family. The door was open, and yes the lock seem to be broken. But everything on the inside looks normal, and if nothing was stolen then I'm sure nothing's broken. I walk towards the kitchen and find the blood on the floor. A few blood stains fill the floor, but no sign of being dragged, the blood is in one area, and it's right in the middle.

I turn towards Traci. "Did you call Forensics?"

"Yes, they'll be here soon." She tells me and I nod.

I ask Andy then if she took full statement of woman who called it in and she nods I ask her to make sure no one other than forensics or police comes near the scene while I go talk to Mrs Whitman (caller).

Once Andy walks out I go towards the lady, Traci right behind me.

"What happened here? Can you restart at the beginning?" I ask her as I whip out my notebook to take notes.

"I was out of town for a business deal, I was only gone two days. I told Jim not to pick me up at the airport, that I'll just get a cab, when I get here door's already open. First thing I do is run up the stairs towards Carly's room, but it's empty, I check our bedroom but it's empty too, so I call my husband but his phone is right at the bed stand, so I call you guys. Right before the officers got here I'd walked into the kitchen and found the blood." She retells me what happened with a shaky voice and very shaky voice. "Please, my daughter is five, please tell me you will find her, find them."

"We'll do our best." Traci reassures her.

"What are we dealing with?" Oliver asks me once he enters the house, Ian James right behind him.

"Five year old girl, missing. Father can't be reached, blood on the floor. Someone from forensics is coming to take some blood samples. We need to clear the house. Basement hasn't been checked yet, it's locked." Traci informs him and explains the situation more for him.

"On it, Collins, you take the top floor, me and James will take here and the basement, we'll break into it." Oliver directs them around and once they take their places two forensics walk in.

Oliver walks down towards the basement while I stand by and watch the forensics take photos and a few blood samples.

"We'll take these to the lab and see if we'll get a match, see who's blood it is." One of the forensics informs me a few minutes later and I nod at him as he leaves while the other one remains.

"Peck!" I hear Oliver call for me from the basement. "You need to see this."

I walk down towards the basement and make my way to where Oliver's standing.

"Shit." I say once I see what he called me down for. There in the corner sits a body. A man who looks to be in his mid thirties. Dead, I'm guessing. It seems he has a wound in his abdomen that has bandages on it.

"I'm guessing this is the husband." Oliver says as he takes a step closer and I follow behind.

"Don't touch him, I'm sure he's dead." I tell him once I notice the marks on the guy's neck and the color of his lips.

"Are you sure?" He asks. I then simply take the purple glove out of my pocket and put it on my right hand. I approach the body slowly, hoping I down touch anything that could compromise evidence, once I reach the body I place my finger to the guy's neck. No pulse. "Yes dead." I then take back my previous position.

"Looks like the guy's been strangled. I'm guessing it's his blood up there, the bandages explain why the blood was only in one area, he put something on the wound, but it wasn't enough once he got down here." I then point at the wound and the floor. "See?"

"Nash!" I call out but I get no answer, so I just dial her phone number and ask her to come down here.

"We got a homicide on our hands." She tells me after she sees what we're dealing with. "We gotta call Holly."

"Yes, and we need more uniforms on the scene. We need a forensics team. And someone needs to tell Mrs Whitman up there about this and question her about her daughter. This may be a homicide but we still have a missing child on our hands." I say and I just hope I won't be the one who will have to tell the wife.

"Dispatch, this is officer shaw, we need more units here, we are dealing with a crime scene."

"I'll call Holly." I tell Traci.

"Hm, of course you will." She says it a bit playfully and I just roll my eyes at her.

I take out my phone and walk up and out of the basement. I find Nick and Ian.

"You." I say pointing at Nick. "Get the Yellow tape out of the squad car and put it around the house." I then point at Ian. "And you, go help Andy out with keeping everyone away. This is a crime scene now. More uniforms are on their way." I inform them and I look behind me to see the wife sitting on one of the couches in the living room where Oliver approaches her. I guess he decided to be the one to tell her what's happening. Once the boys walk out, I dial Holly and follow them out of the house.

"Miss me already detective?" A soft heart stopping voice answers on the second ring.

"Might have." I answer playfully. "But this is not a friendly call, though I wish it was." I know that if I don't cut to the chase immediately we'll be stuck flirting for a while.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you at work?" I ask her.

"Yes, just got in an hour ago."

"We got a call in for a breaking and entering and a missing child. We also ended up with a homicide." I say. "So can you make it here?"

"Yeah just text me the address. I'll grab my kit." She tells me and I can hear her rummaging through her stuff.

"You mean your lunchbox?" I turn my tone teasing a bit.

"forensic kit." She corrects.

"Whatever you say nerd." I say with a bit of a chuckle. "And for the record, I did miss you."

"Yeah? Cause I missed you too. Text me the address, and you'll miss me less then." She says before she hangs up.

I text her the address just as more uniforms arrive on scene. Once I spot Dov, Chris and Chloe I direct them towards me. I tell them our situation and ask them to question some of the people around, because a small crowd was already forming. I even call Nick once he finishes putting the yellow tape.

"Can you go question some of the neighbors that haven't made their way here please? We need to find this kid as fast as we can." I tell him and he nods.

"With the father killed, yeah I agree. We need to find her fast." He says before he walks towards the houses. All the other uniforms and forensics make their way in.

I look around me and I find Dov questioning a woman. She kept glancing towards the house and not once looking at Dov. She looks to be in her late twenties. Her facials were filled with worry as she kept looking at the entrance of the house.

"Detective!" Dov calls for my attention so I just walk towards him and the lady. He simply closes his notebook once he calls for me.

"She has the kid." He informs me.

"The kid? Carly?" I ask him just to be sure and he nods.

"I'm sorry but what's going on?" The woman asks. Her expressions seem panicky and anxious. She must know who lives in the house. Especially if she has the kid.

"I'm detective Peck. You are?" I ask her then.

"Anna Jenkins. I'm Christine's sister." She answers. Right! Mrs Whitman's name is Christine.

"And you have her daughter?" If she does, then we're only looking at a homicide.

"Yes. She's in the car." She says as she points to a car parked on the side of the road a bit far from the scene. "What's going on?"

"First, why is the kid with you?" I had to read her behavior when she answers. See if she'll lie or tell the truth.

"Jim called me yesterday at around 4PM, said something came up and he asked if I can take Carly for the night. I knew my sister would be back the next morning, so I told him I'd bring her back in the morning around the time her mom comes in so that she can have breakfast with her mom and dad. But I come back to this, and I'm a little freaked out now. So what's going on?" Her tone made it obvious that she was worried and freaked out. She wasn't lying. So now I know the husband had something.

"Dov, go inside and tell Mrs Whitman that her daughter is fine and that she can come see her." I tell Dov, the woman must be going crazy, husband murdered, daughter missing. At least we can fix one of those two problems. Dov simply nods and walks back into the house. "Price!" I try to grab Chloe's attention. "Can you go to the car over there and make sure the little girl in there is safe?" She nods and walks off towards the car. I then turn my attention back to Miss Jenkins.

"Step in Miss Jenkins," I lift up the yellow tape and ask her to step closer to the house. Once we're both in there I start. "I need you to stay calm when I tell you this." You never know how they'll react to things and I hate informing people of bad news. "This morning your sister called 911. She said her daughter and husband were missing and that there was blood on her kitchen floor. She wasn't aware the child was with you."

"Blood? Everyone okay?"

I take a deep breath before giving her an answer. "I'm afraid not. Mr Whitman's body was found in the basement."

"Oh my God." She exclaims as she lifts her hands up to cover her mouth. At that moment her sister walks out and runs straight towards her.

They embrace, cry, and then Mrs Whitman asks about her daughter. I simply nod at Dov when he looks at me asking if she can be taken there. I tell him Chloe's already by the car, he should take them to the station as well when they're ready, and that I'll take over the questioning for now.

Once they walk away I look around to see who's fit for questioning. I notice a woman, late twenties or early thirties, standing by the back of the small crowd. She looked out of place. Everyone else looked disheveled, having to be up this early in the morning, the only ones who looked decent were the ones headed to work. This woman was dressed, her hair was fixed, and her expression was unreadable. If she didn't have a job, why is she this ready this early? So I walk towards her ready to question her.

"Miss. I'm detective Peck." I introduce myself as I show her my badge. "Do you live around here?"

"Uh, yeah. I live three houses down the street. Over there." She points at her house.

"May I have your name?"

"I'm Emma Tallon."

"Okay Emma, are you close with the Whitmans?" I regard her carefully, studying every aspect of her body language.

"We were friendly, I guess." She replies and her posture remains the same, except for the slight twitch of the fingers of her right hand.

"Well Mr Whitman was found dead in his basement this morning." She gives a faint 'Oh God' at hearing the news. "As procedure I have to ask where you were last night and if you saw or heard anything suspicious." I inform her.

"I was home. I was tired so I went to bed early. I just woke up to sirens and police cars in the neighborhood." She answers. Twitch. Her right hand twitched again.

"So you _just_ woke up a little while ago?" I ask hoping to trap her.

"Yes." Trapped.

"Is there anything you know about Mr Whitman that could help us? Have you ever noticed anything weird about him? Or anyone around him?"

"No. Not really." And the fingers twitch again. "I don't know them really well." Twitch. "I sometimes babysit Carly when Anna can't take her and they have something really important." On that she was telling the truth. And then her hand lifts to her forehead. "Oh God. Is she okay? Is Carly okay?" She asks worried.

"She's fine ma'am." I answer.

"Can I see her?" She asks.

"I'm afraid not. I'm guessing she's still unaware of the situation. And she's under protection right now." When I say that her eyes start to search around the crowd, I'm guessing for the little girl and somehow I get a feeling this is more than about making sure she's okay.

Before I could ask anything else, I hear Traci calling for me. So I excuse myself from miss Tallon and turn to walk towards Traci. On my way I bump into Ian who wasn't far behind me.

"Keep an eye on her." I whisper and nod towards the woman.

"Suspect?" He whispers back his question.

"Probably. She just lied to most of my questions." I mutter before I make it towards Traci.

"So I just talked to the wife and the sister. Mrs Whitman agreed that her daughter needs to be kept away from this so she agreed to let us take them to her sister's place once we're done with them. And from what I gathered from them, the husband doesn't have any enemies. He's pretty decent. But the wife confessed that they weren't exactly the married couple of the year most of the time. And he did call for the sister to take care of the kid. So maybe we should consider that he was having an affair? I mean they do work a lot and the wife has to go out of town a lot." Traci analyses to me once I reach her.

"You know what? I think you're right. And I think I know exactly who he's having an affair with." I say as I nod towards Miss Tallon.

"Her?" Traci asks once she follows my gaze and nod.

"Emma Tallon. Neighboor. Friendly with the Whitmans. babysits Carly when Anna can't. And most of her answers to my questions were lies. Besides, she says she just woke up but it doesn't look like it." I leave out what I was guessing next. This woman probably killed him, by mistake. And she has a fascination with Carly. So she must be kept away from the kid.

"Okay, I'll go ask a few questions as well. Compare her answers to yours. Maybe we can trap her." Traci says before she walks towards my suspect and starts questioning her. I stand in place patiently waiting for Traci to agree with me and bring the woman in for more questioning.

Probably three minutes later Traci stops her questioning and makes her way back to where I was standing.

"I don't know Gail. It didn't sound like she was lying to me." Traci says and I look at her in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" I ask. "She definitely knows something." I then let out through gritted teeth.

"Gail. We can't know for sure. We need to study the scene, the evidence. If she has anything to do with this we'll catch her." Traci tries to reason with me.

"Evidence? Her lies are evidence. Her look is evidence. She's guilty of _something._" I tried as much as I could to keep my voice down. I know in a way Traci is right. Not all of them here are trained the way I am. Or as perceptive as I am. And detective work is different from my work. I just couldn't help but worry for the kid.

"Gail…"

"No, look at her. Did you not see her right hand fingers twitch every time she lied? Or how she's looking through the crowd, for Carly probably, but in concern?" I try to convince Traci of the urgency to catch this woman.

"Gail, stay calm. Like I said, if it's her we'll catch her." Traci tries to reason with me again and I scoff. "Gail. Let it go."

Before I could say something, I would probably regret, to Traci, a voice calms every nerve in my body. A voice behind me. "Gail." I turn around and I find myself faced with Holly and I couldn't help the small smile that took over my face.

"Dr Stewart. Glad you made it. The victim is in the basement, and the house has been cleared." Traci greets Holly and informs her of the body's whereabouts while I just stay put and look at Holly. "I'll lead you there." She says and Holly nods. But before they walk away Traci turns towards me. "Don't do anything stupid." And just like that, the tension is back.

"Like what? Catch a killer?" And I couldn't help but be sarcastic.

"Um," Holly interrupts. "Detective Peck could show me where the body is if you want." I meet Holly's gaze then and she looked at me with a bit of concern. I'm guessing she was trying to keep me out of trouble with this.

"Yeah why not." I say and try to smile a bit at Holly before I lead her inside the house. I mean, why should I care about this case this much. They'll catch the killer eventually, not as fast as I'm sure they can if they'd listen to me, but they will in time. Besides, I'm not really a detective and this is not my case.

Having Holly this close, and remembering what her lips felt like yesterday, makes me want to pull her into me and give her a hello kiss. But this is work, and I knew that even though she probably wouldn't mind, that I couldn't do that now. Even though, kissing her would make my irritation subside and my anger go away, I had to wait, probably for a while. So I ignore my urges and I lead her down to the basement where the body is, and she takes off her gloves and gets ready to take photos and examine the body where it lies. I simply stand by and let her do her job and listen to the comments she makes about the victim and his death.

"The wound is sloppy, this wasn't planned, it just hit his abdomen, thus the extensive bleeding. The marks on his neck indicate he was being choked but that's not the cause of death, bleeding to death was it. I'll know everything for sure once he's on the slab." Holly informs me once she's done checking the evidence and as she stands next to me and takes off her gloves.

She calls in her forensics team to take in the body for her to the morgue. While she does that we both step out of the basement and up towards the entrance of the house.

Before we actually make it any closer to any crowds I reach out and grab her wrist in a halting way and once we stop walking she turns and faces me with a gentle smile.

"You know, I really want to kiss you right now…" I say in an almost whisper.

"I really want you to…" She says with a tone matching mine.

"It would be wrong to do it now though right? At work? When we haven't even established what we are yet." I ask her.

"It would."

"I still want to kiss you." I confess as I take a step closer. I lower my voice close to a whisper again. "Maybe later, when I visit you in the morgue for information. I'll make sure I get my way with your lips." Once that was said I step back and I could visibly see her gulp while I give her a smug smile.

Before she could answer me though, the forensics team bring up the body and we follow them out.

"Epstein, can you go with Dr Stewart to the morgue? We need immediate updates." Traci calls out for Dov and asks him to go with Holly. I'm just glad she didn't pick James. Dov then just nods and walks towards Holly who was already retreating towards her car and my eyes follow her with longing. But before she leaves through the yellow tape completely she turns towards me and gives me a radiant smile that calms me completely.

"So we practically have no suspects?" Sam asks as he takes a seat in the parade room. We've been trying to figure things out in this room since we got back into the station and Sam got debriefed about the case. The room contained, Sam, James, Andy, Chloe, Nick, Chris, Traci and myself.

"We've just gone through everything and no one stands out." Traci informs him as she shuts the folder she was holding. I've been quiet since we got in. My theory was that Miss Tallon was the mistress and killer. An she has a fascination with the kid. Traci was very much aware of my thoughts on the woman, she's just been ignoring them. I understand the woman had somehow mastered her facial expression while lying, but she couldn't handle the twitch of her hand, which I'm guessing was a nervous habit more than a lie detector.

"What about that woman Gail suspected?" James surprises me by pitching in that question. When I meet his gaze he gives me a knowing look. Did he notice the lies as well? I'm guessing he did, he was trained to do that, probably better trained than I am.

"I questioned her, but it didn't look like she was lying, and we have no evidence to come after her. I even asked Mrs Whitman about her and she had nothing bad to say." Traci defends her decision.

"Why did you suspect her Gail?" Sam asks me then.

"She lied. Every answer she gave me to every question, was a lie." I say calmly.

"How do you figure that?" Sam asks as he stands up.

"Her right hand fingers kept twitching every time she lied." I keep the calm tone.

"Are you positive she was lying then?"

"Yes."

Sam then nods his head and turns his attention towards Traci. "Is she worth looking into?"

"Considering we have nothing, I say yes she is." Traci answers him.

"Okay then. Let's see what we can find on this woman. I need every information you can get. Let's see if we can find a connection between the victim and her, a connection that could allow us to question her again and maybe even bring her in." Sam orders everyone and they stand up.

I didn't feel like researching the woman. I already knew all I needed to know. She did it.

So I check the time and when I realize it was almost lunch time, I decide to go out and see Holly. I already have an excuse to do that.

"I'll head to the morgue and see if Holly has anything that could help us." I inform them and before they could agree to that or protest, I make my escape.

"Hey! Got anything yet?" I ask Holly once I walk into the morgue where she's handling the body, and Dov is just sitting on the chair by the desk. She poses whatever she was doing and looks at me with greeting once I announced my presence.

"Well, like I said, wound was sloppy. He died of blood loss, not choking, even though the marks on his neck indicate that there was a choke attempt, he was probably strangled till he fell asleep. I also found some scratches at the back of his neck, which indicates whoever scratched him is a woman considering they came from someone who was wearing nail polish. Red nail polish. I found some traces of it on his neck." Miss Tallon has red nail polish. "I tried to get a hand print off the neck, but it seems the evidence was wiped off. From the angle of the strike of the knife, my estimate is the killer must be about 5.5" and the knife used it probably a normal kitchen knife." Holly was really good at this job. She probably just gave us a lot of reason to go after Emma Tallon.

"Thank you." I say to her. "Dov, go back to the station, they'll be needing you, I'll stick around here for a few minutes." I then give him the lunch I got him, I felt bad getting Holly something and not him. "Here, I'm guessing you're hungry." He takes the sandwich I offered him as he thanks me and walks out.

I then take out my phone and call Traci to inform her of everything Holly just told me and let her know that Dov was on his way to give them further information. Traci assures me they'll be going after Emma Tallon, and that she'll let me know once they bring her into the station. With that, I hang up and lift the lunch bags to show Holly.

"So, Are you hungry?" I ask her.

"Starving," She answers as she takes off her gloves and moves towards the sink to wash her hands.

"Well can we take this to your office? I don't think I'd like to eat lunch with you while there's a dead body close by." I ask her as I fake shudder at the thought of eating food with a dead body around.

"Yes, come on." Holly then leads me away front he morgue to her office and I just follow with a smile.

Once seated I take out the sandwiches from the bag.

"So considering I don't know much about the food you like, yet. I thought sandwiches would be the safes bet, so I got half a sub of a few things. So grab whatever appeals to you." I tell her as I reach over and grab a half of my own. She then follows suit doing the same as she thanks me.

After we each eat one half, it was safe to have a conversation then. As I try to form a way to start the conversation about how I feel, I come up blank.

"I like you." I blurt out before I could help it. Thinking about a way to break it to her, while shaving those three words be all I think about, i just couldn't stop myself from saying them.

"I like you too." She reassures me once she sees the semi-panic that was taking over my features and with that the panic fades and is replaced with a smile. I don't think I've ever smiled at anyone as much as I smile at Holly.

"Good. I'd like to take you out on dates, and see where this thing goes, if that's okay with you?" I inform her as I grab another half sandwich.

"More than okay. Let's just go slow and see where this leads." She agrees with me and does the same by reaching for the food.

"Good. Glad we got that out." I tell her as I exhale. Serious conversation off the table. And then we start talking about random things, just getting to know each other, until the food was done.

I know our talk wasn't over yet. But this wasn't exactly the place for it. I just wanted her to know that whatever this is between us, isn't just a game for me, that I was serious about it, which is why I even brought up the subject in the first place. And after we established that we liked each other and that slow was a good way to go about things, we steered away from the serious talks, saved them up for later.

Once the food is done, Holly cleans up after us by throwing everything in the trash.

"Thank you for lunch." A smile takes over her face then.

"I'm just glad I didn't have to wait more days to see you." I tell her as I lean forward onto the desk closer to her.

"Yeah? Miss me?" She raises her eye brows teasingly.

"I already told you I did, didn't I?" I tease back and with that she gives me her lopsided smile.

"We should do this more often," She gestures around the desk and then towards the trash where the food was and ended up. "Have lunch together."

"I'll make sure that happens." I say as I stand up grabbing my phone off the desk and pocketing it. Holly stands up and walks around her desk so that she's closer and facing me.

"Have to go already?" She asks.

"There's a bad guy or girl in this case to catch, so yeah." I then take a step closer towards her and put my arms around her waist. "There's just something I've been wanting to do all day." I say in a husky tone.

"Oh yeah? what's that?" Her tone matches mine then.

"This." And with that I give her a gentle kiss and I could feel her smile into the kiss. It was a gentle kiss that lasted a few seconds. Once I pull back I end up faced with a smile taking over her features, somehow I was sure my features looked the same. And then she leans back in for more.

This kiss was urgent though. This kiss had more feelings and a few seconds later I could feel her tongue finding mine and I find myself moaning into the kiss, my hands getting firmer and strengthening their hold. And then she moans and I lose all self restraint that I possessed. I turn her around until her lower back hits the desk and the kiss grows more heated. A minute later I lift her unto the desk and step in between her legs and I immediately moan at the contact. Her hands find their way under my shirt and start tracing my lower back as mine also go under her shirt and start going up her sides and her legs just press closer, bringing me closer to her heat. Her hands reach my sides as mine go up and find their way under her breasts. Before I could raise my hand higher though my phone rings, loud and interrupts our heated kiss.

Damn phone.

I groan then as I step away from Holly and her groan matches mine once we lose contact. Our gazes never leave each other though as we both breath heavily, trying to catch our breath.

"So much for going slow." I breath out before I reach for my phone.

"Yeah, I'm not sure slow will be easy." Holly says just as breathlessly as she eyes me with want. I almost forgot about the ringing phone at the sight of eyes darkening and roaming over my body. But having it vibrating in my hand then kept me in check.

The called ID indicated it was Traci.

"Hey." I probably couldn't manage more than that word and still sound decent.

"Hey, we have a problem. Carly's missing and Miss Tallon is nowhere to be found." Traci says fast and worried.

"Shit, she took her." I had a feeling she might if she got the chance. But why?

"That's our guess."

"I'm on my way." I hang up, peck Holly on the lips one last time before saying goodbye. I couldn't allow myself more than a peck, I knew I wouldn't be able to handle more at that moment and that I'd probably never leave then. So after I give her a peck, I say goodbye and promise to call her later.


	16. Between

**Hi, sorry the update is later than should be. **  
**I've had a rough week. My friend died in a car crash last week. **

**So please. Everyone, drive safe. Don't drink and drive, and always, ALWAYS, be alert and awake when driving.**

* * *

**16. Between**

"What have we got so far?" I ask once I enter the detectives offices. Traci, Sam, Dov, Andy and Nick were all sitting, some by the computers, some by the desks looking through files.

"We just ran a check on Miss Tallon, we tried to match the information with her address, and we searched her house. And guess what?" Traci says as she walks away from her desk and my way and hands me a file. "Her name's not even Tallon."

I open the file to check and she's right. Everything seems to be registered under the name 'Veronica Moore'.

"Are we running a background on a Veronica Moore?" I ask and Traci nods.

"Yes, we're checking the data base for every 'Veronica Moore' in the area." She tells me.

"Expand it." I say and she looks at me questioningly. "If she changed her name and stayed in one place, then it must be for a reason and I doubt she's _from_ this area. Expand the search, and you'll find a match." I explain why I need her to expand the search and then she turns towards Dov, who I just noticed was sitting by the computer and nods.

"How'd the kid get taken?" I ask then lowering the file and taking a seat.

"Well the mother took a pill to sleep, she takes anxiety meds and after the day she had, she needed one." Traci starts explaining.

"Which left the kid with the sister." Sam continues. "Who says she heard the door bell, opened the door, greeted 'Emma' and let her in, thinking she was here to check on them, especially on the Kid. next thing she knows she's waking up groggy and the kid is gone."

"Hit or drugged?" I ask them.

"Hit. She was hit in the head." Traci answers and I nod.

"She's had a weird fascination with the kid. The little girl must be why she went after the Mr Whitman. She wanted her for herself." I try to make sense of the situation then.

"We have no proof she killed Mr Whitman but this makes her a primary suspect." Sam informs me and I nod already knowing that.

"Okay let's see. She has a fascination with the kid. She babysits when Anna can't, which means she's bonded with Carly, became attached. Then she started hanging out with the father as well, especially when his wife is away, and that led to an affair, which could still have only happened because she wanted the kid. Mr Whitman probably wanted to end it or he refused to give up his daughter, which could have angered her, and cause her to kill him." I give an idea on what might have happened.

"So they were arguing in the kitchen, she lost it and she stabbed him. He found a gauze and used it to cover his wound. Then what? How'd he get into the basement?" Traci wonders.

"He had already lost some blood so he must have gotten dizzy. She must have freaked out about it, she just stabbed someone and if she tries to help him, she'll be in trouble, so she drags him towards the basement, the closest door to her, if he was dizzy already then it wouldn't have been hard. She sits him down and thinks of leaving him there but she knows he'll probably get up if he doesn't die of blood loss, so she tries to choke him, but she doesn't kill him with that." I try to imagine the scene and it makes a bit more sense now.

"He fell asleep and she thought he was dead, so she tried to cover some of her tracks but she didn't have enough time, because the wife would be there soon, so she left." Sam adds to my little imaginary scene.

"But why the fascination with the little girl?" Traci wonders and I start to think about it. Before we discuss that Dov catches our attention.

"Okay, I found her." Dov exclaims.

"Are you sure?" I ask him.

Nick answers for him though. "That's her in the picture." And he points at the screen. We all huddle behind it then.

As we read her profile we realize she's the daughter of Lawyer Howard Moore, who died two years ago. She has a couple charges for DUI when she was younger but I'm sure her dad made them go away. Other than that not much. Which means, we may need to be looking into the little girl herself as well. To get full answers on everything.

"Run me a check on Carly Whitman, and the Whitmans." I ask and Andy who was by the other computer gets to work. A couple of minutes later she calls for us and informs us she found what we needed.

As we check I find the link I was looking for. Carly was adopted.

"Can we get a check on Veronica Moore's medical records. I'm guessing the fascination goes far deeper than just getting attached to a kid she babysat sometimes." I say. Nick then lifts his phone ready to make a call to get us that information.

"Are you thinking she might have given birth to a kid? And she thinks it's this kid?" Traci asks catching on to my drift.

"I'm guessing it's this kid. Miss Moore has enough money to know for sure who her kid is." I say and we wait then for the medical records as we try to contemplate where she could be hiding and Traci calls to see if they found any more useful things at Moore's house.

Twenty minutes later Nick walks in with the information we needed.

"Veronica Moore gave birth to a girl five years ago, gave her up for adoption. She has mandatory therapy, once a week now. She's had it for the past seven years. I'm guessing her mentality was the reason she gave up the kid." He says and then hands us a copy of what he found.

"Or she didn't give up the kid. She was forced to." I think out loud.

"Which is why she came looking for her now." Sam adds and agrees with me. "If she has mental problems, we need to find them now."

"If I was to kidnap my own kid, with the police thinking my name was different, where would I hide?" Traci starts.

"Somewhere the police would never expect." I add to her thinking.

"Or check out last."

"My own house." I conclude.

"Any houses under Veronica Moore?" Traci asks the masses.

"Other than her father's house which she inherited?" Andy asks us

"What's the address?" Traci asks. And Dov gives it to us.

"Okay guys let's go." Sam says as he starts to walk out and we all walk out ready to go get the little girl back and get our killer.

We gather up some troops, the officers get in their square cars, while we get into the detective cars. Traci rides with Sam which leaves me taking a car by myself.

If this case didn't involve a dead man and a missing child, I'm sure there wouldn't be a need for all three detectives to be on the way. In total there was five squad cars and two detective cars driving the streets with the sirens on.

On the drive over I start to study the mental health of the woman and the situation we might be headed to. The woman has mental issues, the little girl must be confused and wondering about her family, probably even a little frightened. The house might be big and secured. This may not be as easy as we are hoping.

And when we arrive there, it turns out my fears were right. The house was big, and secured. There was a security system at the gates outside. Only way in is by putting in the code, we could drive through the gate, but it looks to too solid to be brought down by a car. So when we get out of our cars, I make a note of the officers present, hoping James wasn't around. I may not be allowed to use my gadgets for this job, but this involves a child, so screw the rules, but using them around James is a dangerous move.

With relief I note that James wasn't anywhere around. He wasn't on the troops that came with us.

"There's a car parked inside, so she's in there. Run a check on the tag number anyways." Traci says to Chloe and she calls for the information.

"Call ETF." Sam orders and I see Dov picking up his cellphone to do just that.

Oliver on the other hand announces our presence through the speaker in his squad car and informs miss Moore that the place was surrounded.

Chloe then confirms that the car was miss Moore's car, which meant we needed to get in there as fast as we can.

"Can't we just climb over?" Dov asks.

"No, she knows we're here, we need to go in as teams, not individuals. When we climb in, we have to put our guards down for a few seconds and that's not good." I answer him and he then ponders my point.

I pull out a small device from my pocket. It works like a magnet device, all I have to do is attach it to the security system for ten seconds for it to jam the system's work and for the gates to unlock. Unfortunately for me, the security system was surrounded by two officers, McNally and Diaz, which meant I need to distract them. So my sight roams around the area, hoping to find something, or a way in. That's when I catch sight of the few cameras hanging around.

"She knows we're here and she's watching us." I declare to the two officers as I nod towards the cameras.

"We need to move in faster then." Andy comments as she takes count of how many cameras I pointed out.

"Exactly, which is why I need you to shoot the cameras out. Or break them. She has an advantage to us, and we need to even the odds. She might be armed for all we know. So when we get in, I need you to be ready to do the same to the cameras in there." I command them, and they nod their agreement as they move towards the cameras ready to break them. I take a look around to make sure no one is noticing me, thankfully Sam is on the phone, some of the other officers are getting ready to waltz in while another part goes to Help Andy and Chris and Traci was talking to Andy, and from what I could make out she was asking her what they were doing and why.

So I pull out my device then and put it on the security system and I wait for access to be granted. Once the system beeps I tuck my device away and when the gate starts to open I feel every eye on me.

"Peck. How'd you do that?" Swarek asks me once he realizes I was the one who opened the gate.

"I had to try something! Luckily my guess was right." I say as I pull out my gun and get ready. "The code was the kid's birthday." And with that everyone pulls out their guns and gets ready too.

"I'm calling ETF." Traci announces as she does just that and tells ETF that we've figured out a way to open the gate.

"Cameras out?" I ask McNally and she nods in confirmation.

"This is a big house, so we should spread out into three groups. The suspect is probably armed and she will probably not hesitate to shoot, so be careful. Our main mission is to make sure the little girl is safe. So no matter what the situation is, the kid comes first." I order and they all nod in confirmation.

"You four, come with me. We'll take the front entrance." Sam says as he points at McNally, Diaz, Brennan and Miller. He probably picked the bigger team since he'd be going through the front. Traci then points at Epstein, Price and Stone as she announces they'll take the back. I end up with Collins, Shaw and Rivers as I notice an entrance through the side, probably kitchen door.

Before we split up to go inside I remind them to watch out for the cameras.

Each group then makes it's way into the house over to the entrances they claimed. The kitchen entrance was unlocked, so the three officers with me and myself make sure our guns are ready as we take our postures and walk inside the house ready to search it and face our suspect.

We search the bottom floor on this side of the house and we do not find anyone. Fifteen minutes later our radios come to life as Andy announces that suspect was in custody and the kid was safe. THe found them in the second floor's main bedroom and that they were leading her outside.

We all make our way outside then where McNally was putting miss Moore into the back of her squad car as Chris talks to the little girl so I make my way over there to make sure she's okay.

"Hey little girl." I say as I crouch down to her level. "You doing okay?" She simply nods.

"My name is Gail. Let's get you back to your mommy." And with that I stretch out my hand for her to take as I stand up. She nods again and takes my hand.

"Let's get back to the station. She can ride with me since I rode here alone." I say to Diaz, but loud enough for others to hear.

* * *

"You did good today Peck." Sam praises me as he walks into the detectives offices, Traci in tow, where I was filling up today's paperwork.

"Yeah, you were amazing." Traci adds as she takes a seat at her desk.

I just give them a small smile in return. "Is the little girl okay?" I ask them instead.

"She just left with her mom a few minutes ago."

"Good." I say as I nod and go back to my paper work.

Andy waltzes in, out of her uniform and takes a seat on Sam's desk.

"Some of the guys want to go for pizza. You guys want to come?" She asks us.

"Yeah sure." Sam agrees while Traci declines.

"I gotta go check on Leo." She reasons as she starts tiding her papers.

"Tell the little guy this coming weekend, he and I have a date with an Xbox." I say to Traci with a wink as I lift up my semi injured hand now. "Since this won't sting anymore by then."

"I'm sure he'll be happy about that arrangement." Traci says with a chuckle.

A minute later Steve walks in and greets us.

"Ready to go?" He asks Traci.

"Yes." She replies as she starts packing her stuff.

"Steve, Little Peck here is a better detective than you are." Sam informs my brother who just raises his eyebrows.

"Oh really?" He asks.

"I'll explain later." Traci tells him as she slings her bag over her shoulder.

"Mom would love to hear about that too." Steve adds as he smiles at me. I get praised as better than him and he brings up mom. That must be his way for revenge over me being better than him.

"Weren't you leaving Steven?" I ignore his mom comment.

"See you tomorrow." He waves.

"Tomorrow?" I ask in confusion before he could walk off.

"Shooting range, remember?" He asks and I do remember us making plans about it on Saturday.

"Right. I'll be there."

"See ya Abigail." He walks off with Traci in tow as I glare daggers at his retreating back.

"So Gail, Pizza?" Andy asks me once my brother and his girlfriend are out of sight.

I am ahead on the paper work, I am starving and pizza soungs so good right now. I can meet with Marcus after, and I can always invite 'the hot Pathologist'.

"Yeah sure, why not." I answer and with that I start packing my stuff.

Sam does the same and they stand up ready to go out.

"Just text me the address. I'll meet you there." I tell Andy once I notice she was standing there waiting for me. She simply nods and walks out, Sam in tow.

I pack my things and follow suit. I nod goodbye at a few people, noticing that most people who made the arrest were gone. I make my way to my car and once I'm in the driver's seat I pull out my phone. The best choice would be to call Marcus right now and brief him in on my day, telling him what I've noticed about Jameson and ask if he's got anything. But Marcus can wait. Instead I dial someone I shouldn't already be missing. Not when I've just seen her a few hours ago. But my fingers work by themselves and are already tapping the call icon.

"Detective Peck." A soft voice greets at the other end of the line.

"Doctor Stewart." I greet back. "What are you doing right now?" I ask her before she gets any words in.

"Working on this report from a case that's two weeks old." She explains. "Why?"

"How long will that take?" I ask ignoring her inquiry question.

"Like half an hour." She answers. "Again, why?"

"I was hoping I'd get to see you." I confess. "You see everyone's going for pizza, and I'll be going too. But they're not as fun as you are. So thought I'd ask if you can come keep me entertained."

"I see. I'm your entertainment tool then?" She teases.

"You said it not me." I say and I could already imagine the small playful glare she must be getting.

"There will be food Gail. I'm sure that will be more than entertaining." She was definitely right about that.

"Food is not as fun as you." I tell her, and then lower my voice to seductive. "Unless, you were the food."

A few seconds of silence follow that comment, and suddenly I felt bad for saying it. Was it too soon for such comments? Especially since we're not at that stage yet? We barely even started to get to that stage. We're still at that stage where we know we like each other, and the kissing is great, but no more than kissing. We're still in between the fun and the relationship thing. And I maybe just jumped too far.

"Gail." Her voice shakes as she says my name and I hurry to change the subject.

"So um, finish your report and join us?" I say hurriedly, jumping right to the point of the phone call.

She clears her throat before she answers. "Yeah, just text me where."

She said she'd come. Good. That means I haven't completely screwed things up. Yet.

"Okay. See you in a bit."

There it was, the throat clearing again, before she utters a "See you."

With that the phone call ends and I drive to the address Andy had texted me while I was on the phone with Holly.

When I get there, I find that the place was packed. And of course the cops have put two tables together. And already seated at the table are Andy, Sam, Dov, Chloe, Chris and Nick. No James. And the table still had three empty seats. So I make my way towards them and take a seat at the edge of the table, which happens to be next to Nick.

"Hi." I greet them before I take a seat.

Before anyone could say anything to me, Chloe greets me with a very perky, cheery and high pitched "Gail Hi." And I almost wince at that. Almost, but I don't. I give her a small fake smile. She smiles back, not seeming to care that my smile was fake. And after that a small conversation forms. A couple of minutes later the waiter shows up. They had already gotten their drinks before I came here, and now the waiter came to take their food order. I simply order a beer, deciding it would be better to wait for Holly to order. I simply played it off as being undecided yet and asking for a few more minutes. Unfortunately Nick didn't buy that.

"You already know what you're getting, so why haven't you ordered yet?" He asks me once everyone else is engaged in their own conversation.

"But I don't know what I want. Or I would've ordered." I lie.

"Bullshit. When you hear restaurant and food, you ponder what to order before you even get to the restaurant." He calls me out on my obvious lie.

"Not this time." I try again to fool him but it doesn't seem to work.

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out." He gives up on the questioning once Chris calls his attention.

The waiter comes back and places my drink and then for the next few minutes they talk about idle stuff. Dov suggests they play some trivia game and they all shut him down, thankfully. Then they divert the conversation to some camping plan that they discussed today, for the weekend and they ask me to come along. I immediately turn them down. Me and camping never got along. I had to cope in my training for the agency, and also for a mission where I had to be at camp, but all the training and the experience, didn't make me like it. If camping was avoidable, then it will be avoided.

Nick however expects my answer and laughs when my immediate "No" shoots out when Chris invites me along.

"Don't take it personally. Last time we were supposed to go camping, she pretended to be sick, to get out of it." Nick tries to explain.

"I _was _sick." I argue.

"Getting bitten by an insect does not make you sick Gail." He reasons.

"Oh really? So a bee sting or a spider bite aren't dangerous?" I ask.

"Those, are. A mosquito bite on the other hand is not."

"It so is." I knew it was childish and unreasonable, but that playful defensive part of me took over at that moment.

"A bee, I'd understand, you're allergic. But it was _just a mosquito_ bite." He says.

"Yeah, a big one. And then you wanted me to go somewhere where they come in hundreds and where I could get eaten by bears. No thank you." I say in ways to end this conversation. Even though everyone at the table laughs at my statement.

"I got bitten by a spider when I was ten. I thought I thought it'd be good not to tell anyone and endure the pain. I thought I'd turn into Spider-Man." Chris then says and he diverts the conversation towards him, which I was thankful for.

Two minutes later, I feel someone behind me.

"Hi guys. I hope you don't mind me crashing, but this one here, insisted I come." Holly's voice speaks behind me and I turn around to face her.

"Of course not, join us." Dov tells her as he motions towards the two empty chairs. One at the other edge in front of me, next to Chris, and the other and the end of the table, in between the edge chairs, which would make her next to me. She obviously takes the seat next to me.

"Hi." I greet her with a genuine smile once she sits down, a smile that she returns with a "Hi."

"Done with your report?" I ask her.

"Yes." She answers as she starts to take off her jacket and I just stare at the movement. How she pulls each arm back to pull on the sleeves and how she arches her back to get better access. I involuntarily gulp and avert my gaze.

"You hungry?" I then ask her.

"Starving." She answers and I then slide the menu the waiter left with me towards her so that she can decide what to have.

A minute or so later a couple of waiters come with the food for the table. Once everyone gets their plate, I call one of them back so that me and Holly can order.

"Guess I just figured it out." Nick whispers to me once the waiter leaves and I elbow him in the guts.

"Shut up," I hiss at him as he rubs where my elbow hit.

"You haven't changed." He says.

"I _so_ have." I say in argument.

"Pineapple on your pizza?" He asks as if that's obviously a reason why I haven't changed.

"It's good." I try to be convincing and he raises his eye brows questioningly.

"Not like you'd know, you never tried it." I remind him.

"Not likely to try it." He shrugs. I guess the difference between him and Holly is already evident. He refused to try what I was interested in. Never went along with my crazy ideas or food interests. Holly on the other hand wasn't opposed to trying something, even though we weren't anything yet.

"It's great that you two can still be friends." Chloe then exclaims and I could visibly see Dov nudge her to not say anything more.

"Me and him?" I ask motioning between me and Nick. "Friends? No." I fake deny as I chance a look at Holly, remembering that there's a lot I need to tell her.

"Yeah, no." Nick agrees.

"What was Gail like before?" Holly then joins the conversation directing her question to Nick.

"No." I warn Nick pointing my finger at him, telling him to shut up and say nothing, he however ignore me.

"She hasn't changed much really." He answers, and I exhale. His answer was safe.

"Any embarrassing stories?" Holly then adds a question and I turn my gaze towards her and glare.

"Oh plenty." Nick tells her. Traitor, he stuck up for me before but now he won't?

"You're both mean." I sulk and they just laugh.

"Do tell." Holly encourages Nick to continue and I just keep alternating my glare between the both of them.

"Oh this isn't embarrassing, but it's so how Gail was. Probably the only part that changed." He tells Holly before he turns to me. "Remember that party? At Josh's house?" Nick asks me then and I try to remember which party he meant. I guess the best part is to play along and deflect any parts of his story to my benefit then.

"Hmm yes, the night I was free of you." I answer.

"I was there Gail."

"Not with me."

"Anyways," he continues. "Gail walks in, ignores everybody and goes straight for the tequila. She sits on the stairs and drinks. Until this girl shows up and starts hitting on Gail."

"God not that story." I whine.

He however ignores me and continues. "Two minutes later the girl tries to make out with her. Gail pushes her away though. The girl puts something in Gail's drink then. Guess she couldn't handle rejection."

"She obviously didn't know I was a cop's daughter." I interject.

"Obviously. But you played along as if you didn't notice and caused trouble." He reminded me.

"Well how was I supposed to know everyone would get scared I'd call my mom? They all thought I was an idiot, who would end up putting them in trouble if something bad happened to me."

"You turned limb next to her, so most people freaked out and left. That's when she caught on, hearing the name Peck and freaked out. But the funny thing was when Marisa showed up, and stuttered her way to try and help you. That girl was so in love with you."

"Was not." If she was I'd know.

"Was too. And she tried to get you out but you refused to leave without the alcohol, so you took down your anger with me and asked me to help you carry it out."

"It was good alcohol." I reming him and he just laughs.

"So all you need is food and alcohol?" Holly asks me knowingly then.

"I'm always hungry and I don't mind getting drunk." I tell her with a wink.

"Good to know." She says with a smile. "You still plan on playing games with people in dangerous situations?"

"I don't think I'm allowed to anymore." I tell her with a pout and she just laughs.

The rest of that evening was full of stories. Everyone shares a funny story. Even Nick, and I share another one. And Holly tells us about how her friends thought it'd be scary to go into a morgue on Halloween (considering one of her friend's moms worked at a hospital). When she was the only one who didn't get scared was Holly so they thought she was a zombie and they ran from her too.

I was surrounded by people. And I was comfortable with Holly there. I felt a part of something.

When dinner was over and everyone started to leave I walk Holly back to her car.

"And here I thought I wouldn't get to see you today." I tell her once she stops at the door to her car.

"I'm really glad I did get to see you." She says.

"Me too." I smile at her.

"Will I get to see you tomorrow?" She hopes.

"Can't get enough of me doctor?" I tease.

"Not even close." She says and my smile grows bigger.

"Maybe I can stop by for lunch?" I ask and she agrees.

"I'd like to cook you dinner sometime this week." She says and I immediately think of what day would fit.

"How about Friday? My shift finishes early and I have saturday off. So you'll have my undecided attention." I suggest.

"Friday it is. But lunch whenever you can." She then leans closer and gives me a chaste kiss. Before I could deepen it or anything she's back away and already opening her car door.

"That's all I'll be getting?" I try not to let my voice sound whiny.

"If I give you any more than that I probably won't be leaving any time soon." She says as she sits down in her car. "But you can decide what you'd like to eat for Friday. Unless you want something more exciting than food." She says with a wink as she closes the door and starts her car. She was obviously referring to before, my comment on food. And my mind wanders to all the possibilities. And my want for Holly grows, a heat surges over me and I try to shake it off. We've barely started and I'm already lusting over her like crazy.

And if I don't shake those thoughts off, I'd probably still be in place for a long time.

So I pull myself together, and the phone ringing helps.

"Yeah?" I answer knowing it's Marcus.

"I think we've got something."


End file.
